Déjà Vu: Series 3
by LizzeXX
Summary: 10/OC -Time Lady- When the 9th Doctor found the Angel, a Time Lady, in Van Statten's museum, his whole world changed. And now it has changed again, for the timelines have been altered and only ONE alien was held in Van Statten's instead. How did Angel avoid such a fate? And what would become of the Doctor if he met her, instead, as his 10th self? First in the AU Heart of Time Saga.
1. The Lazarus Experiment: He's Here!

A/N: Surprise! ^-^ Welcome to Déjà Vu: Series 3, an AU revision of Doctor Who's Series 3 based on my Heart of Time Saga, a set of stories that include my OC the Angel, a Time Lady who becomes the Doctor's Mate. In my original series, the 9th Doctor discovered her in Van Statten's museum and freed her. This story will be a 'what-if' where, instead of the 9th Doctor finding her, it's the 10th Doctor that encounters her first ;) Just HOW he managed to miss her in Van Statten's will be revealed as the story goes on }:)

Even though this is an AU retelling and essentially a new story, I would still recommend reading the Heart of Time Saga (A Treasured Discovery to The Nightmare Begins) for more about Angel, her abilities, and her life with the Doctor :)

Some notes:

~8~ is a scene break

' _italics_ ' will come to mean telepathic speaking

This story will be an attempt to encompass as much of what is happening in the episodes as possible, including background and other scenes that don't involve Angel or the Doctor :)

I am going to try to update this story every other Saturday, alternating between a chapter for my other AU, Rewritten, and this story :) This story will follow a similar format as the original series, each episode will be 3 chapters, each special will be 5 chapters :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...otherwise Idris would have stuck around more :)

~8~

The Lazarus Experiment: He's Here!

The Doctor, last of the Time Lords of Gallifrey, raced around the console of his TARDIS, trying to pilot the old box as best he could with just one pilot to speak of. Typically, for a TARDIS such as his, a Type 40, essentially a museum piece, it took about 6 pilots to do a proper flight but there was just him alone to handle it. Off to the side, one Martha Jones, the latest in a long line of companions (though the Doctor himself wouldn't have defined her as such, this was just a gift trip, just one…well, admittedly a very long one, with many parts, but just ONE trip, that was all he agreed to, not taking on a permanent companion), was watching him curiously, especially his face, he seemed confused.

And rightly so.

The TARDIS was near flying itself, it seemed. He was hardly doing a thing which was quite baffling to him given that, the last few times he'd flown the box with Martha there, it had been…a bumpy experience to put it lightly. If he hadn't known any better, he might have thought that the box was fighting _against_ him leaving earth the moment he got Martha onboard after they dealt with the Judoon on the moon. Well, to be fair, it had actually started a bit earlier than that, with that Donna woman. He'd gone to pilot the box away and it fought him, to the point where the two forces, his piloting and the box itself, just reacted and sent it flying into the air and into space, allowing him to get it into the Vortex. It had just become more noticeable when he'd tried to leave with Martha, at first he'd just thought that it was a reaction from the Huon particles and Donna that had thrown the box's navigational systems off. The Judoon hadn't done anything like that to the box, it had been safely across the street from the hospital at the time, had been fine jumping to the future to meet Martha at her brother's party and then going back to meet her that morning on her way to work. It wasn't till he'd tried to get them to the Vortex that it got bumpy and stubborn. But that was rubbish, what reason would there be to STAY on Earth? There wasn't. It was just one planet out of billions of trillions and, granted the humans were a wonder, they were just one species of many with intelligent life walking about. Still, the last few goes with Martha had left a lot to desire in terms of smoothness and yet here they were, the box rocketing towards the earth and…landing perfectly, with ease, without a single bump or thump.

Well, that was something.

"There we go," he smiled at Martha, not about to tell her that the rather smooth sailing they'd just experienced, her first trip of the sort, had nearly nothing to do with him, "Perfect landing," he cast a glance at the rotor as the box gave out what he might have thought was an exasperated and huffy groan at the lack of proper credit, "Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."

"You should be used to tight spots by now," Martha teased, moving over to him to elbow him gently in the side, "Where are we?"

"The end of the line."

Ok, admittedly, that likely wasn't the best way he could have described it. He almost felt guilty for doing so when he saw the way Martha's eyes lit up in excitement, clearly expecting some sort of awesome destination to lie right outside the doors. There was hope in her eyes, that the adventure, that the 'one trip,' might have been extended yet again.

"No place like it!" he called after her in a rather bad attempt at giving her a hint of where they actually were without having to crush her hope entirely.

Martha did pause though, seeming to sense there was something more to his words, but she just shot him a grin, threw open the doors, and ran out…he could see her stop short in the doorway and sighed, stepping out after her and right into her bedroom of her little house.

"Home," Martha deadpanned, "You took me home?"

"In fact," he took a deep breath, rubbing his eye at the awkwardness of the moment, "The morning after we left, so you've only been gone about 12 hours. No time at all, really."

"But…" Martha shook her head, trying to process how that was possible, despite the fact she'd just been to the past twice and the future as well, "All the stuff we've done, Shakespeare, New New York, old New York…"

"Yep, all in one night," he murmured, leaning over to look closer at a few pictures decorating the room of Martha's family, "Relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was," he turned to her, gesturing around the room itself, "Books, CDs…" he used a pencil to pick up a pair of knickers that were drying on a rack, "Laundry," Martha gave him a withering look for that last one as she quickly snatched her undergarment back, "So, back were you were, as promised."

"This is it?" Martha couldn't help but ask, trying her level best not to pout or reduce herself to begging to go with him. Though she couldn't stamp down the hope that, after the last few trips, the Doctor might just _want_ her to tag along.

She'd do it too, even if it meant hearing more and more about Rose and constantly being compared to his last companion, she just…she wanted to see the Universe.

But the Doctor's next words dashed her hopes entirely, "Yeah, I should probably…um…" he gestured back at the TARDIS, about to turn and head into it when Martha's phone began to ring.

Martha didn't make a move to answer it though, choosing instead to stare him down and let the answerphone pick up, "Hi! I'm out! Leave a message!"

"Martha, are you there?" a woman's voice called out just after the beep, "Pick it up, will you?"

"It's Mum," Martha offered by way of explanation, "It'll wait."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at that last part though, a small part of him wondering how humans could go without speaking to their families. Given all he'd been through, if he could just SEE his mother one more time he'd give the universe to do it. But, then again, that would be a bit harsh to think of Martha for not speaking to her mother when Rose herself had been willing to abandon her to a parallel world…

"Alright then," Martha's mother huffed, "Pretend that you're out if you like," he had to crack a smile at how well the woman knew her daughter, "I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested."

THAT, however, DID get Martha moving as she turned instantly to the TV behind her and grabbed the remote to turn it on. It took only seconds to switch to the news station and she couldn't help but gape when she saw her sister really _was_ there, standing beside a rather old man that the bottom of the screen labeled 'Professor Lazarus.'

"The details are top secret…" the man was saying.

"How could _Tish_ end up on the news?" Martha mumbled to herself, confused. There had been no mention just last night at the party for her brother that she was going to be on the telly and, knowing her sister, that would be the _first_ thing she told anyone the moment she knew.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device…"

"She's got a new job," Martha continued, more to herself than the Doctor, trying to work out exactly how and why Tish was there, "PR for some research lab," she hadn't thought it was that big of a firm but clearly she'd been mistaken.

"…with the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human."

Martha rolled her eyes at that one, big firm or not it was a load of crock, and turned the telly off, focusing on the Doctor once more, "Sorry. You were saying we should…"

"Yes, yes, we should," the Doctor nodded, "One trip is what we said."

And it was one trip, just one. He…he didn't really want to be around humans right now, not like that, not for so long. Rose had been…a change, from the war, fresh air and fresh life, youth and innocence. It had been what he'd needed to recover from the war enough to become the man he was now. He'd almost tricked himself into thinking she wasn't just a human, in terms of lifespan and fragility. Sure she had made quite a few mistakes, but she'd learned, she'd gotten better. Near the end Rose had the makings of almost reminding him of what it was like to be around the Time Lords she hadn't sounded quite as human.

Perhaps that had been a bad thing, in the end. He'd stopped seeing her as 100 percent human, had tricked himself into thinking that what usually happened with them wouldn't happen with Rose…and then it had, and she'd been lost to him. She may not have withered, decayed, and died before his eyes as he'd once told her was a hardship for him to bear, but it just hadn't gotten to that point. She'd still been lost, ripped away before her time, much like so many humans were before her.

He just…he wished there was a Time Lord out there, just one, ANY one would make him happy. Even if the Master were there, his arch-enemy, he'd be thrilled. Because he wouldn't be alone.

He just…he didn't want to be alone anymore.

But the only ones that were around him were humans, the mortal humans.

It was a difficult cross to bear and made the loneliness feel that much more keen.

"Yeah," Martha spoke and his eyes snapped to her, hoping that she hadn't been talking and he'd been not listening, but it seemed like she was just starting again, "I suppose things just kind of…escalated."

"Mmm," he shrugged, "Seems to happen to me a lot."

"Thank you," Martha told him earnestly, "For everything."

"It was my pleasure."

He gave her one final smile and nod, before turning and stepping into the TARDIS, Martha remaining standing there with tears gathering in her eyes as she watched the box start to fade away, a funny wheezing noise following it that the Doctor had never really explained to her. Not that he would explain, he seemed to have had it firmly rooted in his mind from the start that she wouldn't be sticking around. What point would there have been to tell her anything about the box?

She sighed and turned around, moving to start putting her laundry away…when the wheezing noise returned. She spun around, her eyes wide as the TARDIS reformed exactly where it had landed before, the Doctor sticking his head out only moments later.

"No, I'm sorry," he frowned, jerking his head towards the TV, "Did he say he was going to change what it means to be _human_?"

~8~

In a laboratory that night, an old man, Professor Lazarus, stood in an office just above the labs, looking out at London below him, a woman as old as he was, (though he groused in his mind she was likely older) stood beside him, dressed in a fashionable dark dress with her gray hair pulled back into such a severe bun that her wealth couldn't be denied just by looking at her.

"Are you _sure_ it's safe?" she asked him quietly, knowing there were others in the room behind them and, if one of them overheard, and it leaked to the media, all their efforts would be wasted.

"There were some…issues," Lazarus admitted, "They've been resolved. I'm confident I'm in no serious danger."

"That's comforting, Richard, but it wasn't just you I was worried about," she rolled her eyes.

Something that he mirrored though with a bit more distaste, "Your concern is _touching_."

"The people in that room will represent billions of pounds' worth of potential investment," she hissed at him, sensing he wasn't taking this seriously, "Mr. Saxon wants to be sure they like what they see. His representatives will be there, watching, waiting to report back, and if this goes wrong…"

"Don't worry. Our friend will get his money's worth."

"Professor Lazarus?" a voice called behind them and they turned to see Tish walking towards them with a small file in her hand, "You wanted to see the guest list for tonight?"

"Yes," he grinned lecherously at her, "Thank you, Leticia," he reached down just as she pressed the file onto his desk, resting his hand on top of hers to keep her from turning away, "That's an interesting perfume. What's it called?"

"Soap."

His grin faltered and slowly began to fall into a deep scowl as Tish pulled her hand away and strode out of the office.

The old woman behind him snorted, "Shall you be able to keep your focus for tonight? Or shall I have to find someone to cover young Leticia's role for the time being?"

He gave her a sharp look for that, "It will be fine," he nearly hissed at her, "Tonight's going to be…perfection."

~8~

"Tonight's going to be a _nightmare_ ," a young woman breathed as she sat before another, slightly older woman who was putting the last touches on the long, blonde hair of the girl before her.

"What makes you say that?" the woman asked, not sounding concerned.

"I dunno," the blonde sighed, swallowing hard, crossing her arms and squeezing her elbows, "Just…a feeling. I can't shake it," she looked up at the woman, "Why can't you go instead?"

"I thought you wanted to go tonight?" the woman frowned, stepping back and setting down the curling iron she'd been using, picking up some hairspray. She put her hand over the girl's forehead, keeping the spray from her eyes as she gently used the can on her hair, "You ASKED to be the one to go tonight."

"I know," the blonde murmured, "I'm just…nervous, I suppose."

The woman paused a moment before placing the hairspray back, a gentle, understanding look in her eyes, "Another nightmare?"

"No," the blonde shook her head, "No, it was...it was a nice dream last night," she smiled softly at that.

"You dreamed of _him_ again?" the woman smirked playfully, recognizing the softness in the girl's eyes and smile, one she always got when a particular person appeared in her dreams, "Your Dream Lord?"

The blonde blushed at the tease, "Just a bit," she mumbled.

The woman laughed, "Perhaps he'll be there tonight then. All the more reason for you to go."

"I just…I don't understand why I was _allowed_ to go. 'Changing what it means to be human?' I can't understand why anyone would _want_ to do that. And if they DO change being human, what do they become then? A bird? A fish? A...a scorpion? I know nothing about…about whatever it is this professor bloke's actually trying to do."

"I think you know quite a bit about it, actually," she gave the blonde a pointed look.

"Not like _that_ ," she argued, "It just…happens. I don't know the science behind it. And…and YOU'RE the partner in all this, you're the one the photographers would be looking for and…"

"And that's just why," the woman gave her a smile, "It gets tiring after a while, being photographed. You haven't been much, you'd have a better time of it tonight. Listen," she crouched down before the blonde, taking her hands, "You don't have to do anything, talk to anyone, say anything. We've been assured that the press will be controlled during this, it won't be so bad. And…it'll be good for you to get out, be around other people."

The blonde sighed but nodded, "You're worrying about me," she said softly.

"We _both_ are," the woman agreed, "You've been getting anxious lately, not sleeping well, absent minded," she eyed her, hesitating, "You're lonely…"

"No I'm not," she shook her head, insistent, "I have you and…"

"I know," the woman cut in gently, "I meant that you've spent your whole life one way and it's all been uprooted. We can't give you that part of your life back, but, maybe, someone else can. You just need to go out there and see if it's possible."

"And you think I'll find it tonight?"

"Don't you?" she gave the blonde a pointed look, "Come on," she stood, leading the blonde over to a full length mirror a few feet away, placing her before it, putting her hands on the blonde's shoulders as she stood behind her, smiling a little at how the girl before her looked only a year or two younger than herself, yet was so much older in reality, "You look beautiful."

The blonde blushed slightly as she looked at herself. She was very happy with her outfit and appearance, happy she'd agreed to let the woman behind her do it. If she let anyone else, she'd end up with far too much extravagance and makeup. She liked simple things and that was what she was now. Her dress was simple, knee-length, strapless but fitted, white. And over that was a sort of lacy, dark blue covering with little feather patterns worked into the lace. It was fitted to fall over the white dress, but also gave her 3/4 length sleeves and a round neckline. It was lovely and simple. Her hair was equally so, blonde, long, just lightly curled, her makeup barely there, just gloss for her lips and a hint of eyeshadow to bring out the green of her eyes, the shade making the small little gold flecks within stand out more, and just a hint of blush.

She reached up and touched the woman's hand, squeezing it, "Thank you."

The woman squeezed her shoulders, "Just be safe tonight," she murmured, "If you feel like it'll be a nightmare, if you have a bad feeling about it, be careful. And call us," she turned the blonde to face her, " _Anything_ goes wrong, let us know, we'll come for you."

The blonde nodded, leaning in to hug the woman tightly.

~8~

Martha nearly laughed at how the Doctor was fussing with a cuff on his black suit while they walked down the street and towards Lazarus Labs where a gathering was being held. After the Doctor had returned, they'd looked up Lazarus on her laptop and gotten an idea of what his experiment tonight would be, at least in the sense that they found out WHERE it would be and when and the Doctor had decided, with a little help from the psychic paper, that they ought to crash it and see what was going on. That was where they were headed now.

The Doctor had wanted to sneak in there beforehand, but she'd reminded him with all the preparations, they'd be noticed in no time flat as the only people there would be the ones that were working on the experiment. It was best to wait till later, till that night when the party was starting and slip in that way, there would be guests aplenty and no one would notice two new people in the crowd. He'd begrudgingly agreed, even less so to the fact that they'd have to dress the part and actually wear black tie and formal clothing. She was wearing a lovely little plum colored dress with no sleeves, went to her knees, along with some heels. If she might have been hoping that the Doctor would compliment her on her choice, she was mistaken to do so as he'd spent the entire time trying to make his own suit work for him.

He'd, somehow, nearly strangled himself trying to get the black bowtie on till she stepped in and got it fixed for him.

She silently prayed that a day never came where he switched his longer tie to a bowtie, he'd probably end up choking himself.

"Oh, black tie," she looked over when she heard the Doctor mumbling under his breath, "Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens."

"It's not the outfit, that's just you," she teased, "Anyway, I think it suits you. In a James Bond kind of way."

For a moment he didn't seem pleased with that comparison, "James Bond?" but then he shrugged, "Really?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, walking on, only to stop a moment later when she realized he wasn't beside her any longer. She turned back to see him standing there with a frown on his face, staring at the entrance to the labs just across the street, still with one arm curled against him and his other hand on his cuff.

"Need me to fix that for you?" she asked, not quite sure why he'd stopped.

But the Doctor's frown just deepened, the line of his brow furrowing as he stared past her. She glanced over her shoulder, but there was nothing there but the labs and the line of people starting to be admitted in. There were quite a few of them, most of the older variety though she did spot a younger man or woman or two. There was a ginger man in a gray suit, an Asian woman in a deep red gown, two more middle-aged men following a blonde girl in a blue and white dress into the labs, all of them following the older crowd into the halls. There was nothing remarkable about the sight.

She shook her head and turned back to the Doctor, "Doctor?"

"Hmm?" he snapped his gaze back to her, "Sorry, what?"

"Everything alright?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "Need help with your cuff?" she repeated, pointing at it for good measure.

"Oh, um," he looked at his cuff, almost seeming confused as to why he'd stopped fixing it, and back to the labs, on the cusp of falling back to his distraction, before shaking his head firmly, "Yeah, yeah, if you could, that'd be great thanks."

She nodded, stepping up to him and working on his cuff, not seeing how he stared past her and at the labs again.

He couldn't help it though, there was just…something off about it. It was like a niggle in the back of his head and it felt like it was coming from the labs. But it was impossible, a niggle like that? He hadn't felt it in over a hundred years, it was nothing, nothing at all. It was just a lingering, phantom niggle from what he'd been thinking earlier that day.

It wasn't like there was a Time Lord in there.

~8~

Martha wasn't sure what was going on with the Doctor at the moment. He'd been talking as they'd walked into the lab, but it had seemed forced, almost like he was purposefully babbling away about the history of the black suit and the human tradition of wearing one, and then he'd just…stopped. They'd set foot into the main reception area where all the other guests were and he'd just stopped. Not even stopped, his jaw hadn't popped shut, he hadn't stuttered to a halt, his mouth was even still hanging open but he wasn't saying anything.

"Doctor?" she asked, "Are you _sure_ you're ok? Is everything alright?"

But he didn't answer, he just kept staring out into the crowd.

She followed his gaze to a large white box that was set up in the middle of the room just as a blonde woman walked around behind it. It was about the size of a refrigerator, she'd guess, with a series of four white beams surrounding it, all attached to the top of the box by a curved piece of metal. She was about to ask what it was, when she'd heard a voice to her side call her and saw her sister hurrying over.

The Doctor fell deaf to the greeting and conversation that Martha was having with her sister, he was only vaguely aware of Martha mentioning his name in introduction and giving some sort of excuse for him being there with her. He was staring but he wasn't sure at what. The niggle was worse now, more like an itch in his head that he couldn't scratch. His mind _had_ to be playing tricks on him though, it had to be, there were NO other Time Lords left alive, his actions on Gallifrey had made sure of that.

It had to be his mind, all in his mind. Yes. It was a combination of Rose's departure, of Lazarus's remark on changing humanity, of Martha's hope of not having to leave him. It was just combining to remind him just how lonely he was, how much he wanted another Time Lord around, it had to be that. And he had to _stop it_. He had to _focus_. Because he _did_ recognize that white box that he was absently trying to stare through, he knew what it was and if a human tried to make something like that now, the chance of it succeeding were slim to none. And if that thing was going to be activated tonight, he might have to stop it. To do that he couldn't afford to get distracted by a niggle that didn't actually exist, an itch that couldn't exist.

"That thing over there," he spoke, nodding at the white box, not even sure what Martha and Tish were talking about anymore or what topic he might have interrupted, he just needed to be sure, "Is that a sonic microfield manipulator?"

"He's a science geek," Tish remarked, "I should've known," but instead of answering the question, she merely turned back to her sister, "Gotta get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later."

"I take it that means she didn't know?" the Doctor looked at Martha, when another voice called out, distracting her once again.

"Mum!"

The Doctor nearly scoffed when he saw Martha run for an older woman in a golden dress and hug her tightly, so NOW she wanted to be around her mother? Humans, they were so odd.

He looked back to the side, staring hard at the white box, feeling his attention pulled towards it once more but…for some reason…he almost felt like his focus was just directed in that direction. He almost wished Time Lords had developed the ability to see through things, that way he'd at least be able to see what was behind the white box. Not that there was anything there at all, nothing at all, because that niggle didn't exist and the way his mind kept returning to that box it had to mean that something in him knew that this experiment wasn't going to work and was trying to tell him that. _That_ was the reason he kept looking at the box, it had to be.

Now if he could just focus enough to…

"…just the Doctor," he heard Martha speaking and turned his attention away from the box and over to her, realizing that she'd been talking to her mother and, what appeared to be, her brother about him while he'd been standing there, rudely ignoring the rest of them, "We've been doing some work together."

"Yeah," he blinked, feeling utterly lost about exactly what Martha might have said about him before this, "Alright," he reached out to shake Martha's brother's, Leo if he remembered correctly, hand, taking it as a good sign that the boy wasn't trying to punch him like the mothers of his companions tended to slap him. And, speaking of mothers, best to make a good impression, "Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones," he turned to shake the woman's hand as well, "Heard a lot about you."

He didn't quite think that it was the wrong thing to say in such a situation, though the pursing of the woman's lips and how she started to narrow her eyes at him made him reconsider that, he was actually really rubbish at dealing with people, humans especially, came from being an alien.

"Have you?" the woman did _not_ sound impressed, "What have you heard, then?"

"Oh, you know," he started to scratch the back of his neck in nerves, "That you're Martha's mother and…um…no, actually, that's…that's about it," he sighed, defeated in that he'd been caught, "We haven't had much time to chat, you know, been busy."

The wince that Martha gave at his words made him think he'd just said something _very_ wrong, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what that was or why.

"Busy?" the woman appeared on the edge of slapping him now, "Doing _what_ , exactly?!"

It was then that he realized exactly what the woman had inferred from his answers and did his best not to blush or stutter…and failed miserably at both, "Oh…you know…stuff."

Fortune must have been smiling at him for not even a moment later, just a single second before Mrs. Jones could start to berate him or cause a scene for what she thought he and Martha had got up to, a soft pinging noise echoed through the room, above the din of the various guest chatter, coming from a glass that Professor Lazarus himself was holding in his hand and tapping with a knife as he stood on a platform before the white box.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he smiled, the room having to fall deadly silent to be able to hear the weak-voiced man, "I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."

He gave the crowd a short, stiff bow, before stepping down from the platform and walking towards the white box that one of his young, female assistants had opened for him, before the woman turned to join her partner in starting up the machine at a bank of controls to the side.

The Doctor watched with a frown, fighting against the itching in his mind that was taunting him to look at the crowd instead. A high-pitched whir began as a bright blue light started to surround the box, the four white pillars around it spinning themselves and racing around the box as well. Thankfully the niggling in his mind quieted suddenly when a high-pitched squeal began to ring out along with the whir, an alarm.

"Something's wrong!" the Doctor cried, twisting to look over at the control bank where the two women were scrambling to try and stop the box, "It's overloading!" he dashed over to them as the panels began to spark, leaping over the side of one and flashing his sonic around, but nothing was working.

"Somebody stop him!" the woman who had stood with Lazarus shouted, turning to look at the few guards they had stationed in the room, "Get him away from those controls!"

"If this thing goes off, it'll take the whole building with it!" he snapped, not even casting a glance at the woman, instead choosing to focus on stopping the imminent explosion, "Is that what you want?" he grit his teeth when the sonic failed to stop the controls and turned to the powercords, yanking one out of the main control hub and looking straight to the white box, nearly heaving with relief when the spinning and the blue light began to slow and fade. But that lasted only a second before he was jumping over the controls again, calling out to Martha, "Get it open!"

Martha jumped and dashed ahead to the door of the white box, prying it open just as the Doctor reached her, releasing steam from the box and stumbling back when a younger man who looked a good deal like Lazarus stepped out.

The man, now appearing 40 years old, grinned, feeling his wrinkle-free face before casting his arms out wide, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!"

The Doctor could only gape at the man as camera flashes went off around the room, Lazarus laughing in glee.

Though one young blonde woman in a blue and white dress cautiously stepped further and further away even as the crowd drew nearer to the professor, staring at him with wide, worried eyes.

~8~

As various guests and investors flocked around Lazarus a short while later, his partner walked among the crowd, grinning widely as she saw people examining the contraption that Richard had built, laughing to herself when she heard people whispering about wanting to test it out, wanting to buy their own versions of it. She paused, however, when she saw a young blonde woman standing at the edge of a buffet table, a small glass of wine in her hand. She didn't appear to be drinking it, more just holding it as she stared across the way at Lazarus himself while he had his photo taken with a few guests. She would have laughed at the sight, young women all around the room were now eyeing the man differently, had it not been for the fact that the girl wasn't looking at him in that sort of fashion but with a frown.

"Everything alright, my dear?" she made her way over to the girl.

"Lady Thaw," the woman greeted with a small smile, shaken from her thoughts, nearly jumping when the words had been spoken.

"That was quite an event, wasn't it?" Thaw beamed.

"Yes," the woman responded hesitantly, "That was…something," her gaze drew back to Lazarus as she spoke.

Thaw's lips pursed, sensing an unease in her tone. And unease, especially from the girl before her, would _not_ do well for business. Too much rested on this night being a success, and the girl…she could ruin everything with a simple word to the right person.

"It was utterly _fascinating_ ," Thaw continued, "Truly _astonishing_ , don't you think?"

"I suppose," she hesitated to answer.

"You don't have to lie to me, my dear girl," Thaw forced a laugh, turning to link her arms with the young woman's, if there was one thing she was good at in this world it was schmoozing and winning people over, how else would Richard have gotten his funding if not for her charisma? "I can tell you have some misgivings about what just happened."

"That machine was going to explode," she murmured, though her gaze didn't move from Lazarus, not even to glimpse the box, "Something went wrong."

"Oh posh," Thaw waved her off, "Forgive me for saying so, my dear, but you don't seem the scientific sort. You couldn't possibly know for sure."

"I don't," she agreed, "But your equipment did, the alarms were going off…"

"A minor glitch," Thaw cut in gently, "You can rest assured that we would do many more tests before allowing other members of the public to try it."

The woman shifted at that, "Human nature isn't something to be trifled with," she murmured, "You are human for a reason, and to be human is incredible," she glanced at Thaw, " _Why_ would you want to be anything else?"

"Oh my dear girl," Thaw laughed, "The machine doesn't _change_ anything, save to make us a bit younger," she smiled genially, "We'll all still be as human when we step out as we were going in."

The woman finally looked at the box instead of Lazarus, hesitating to speak her fearful thoughts. She couldn't shake the sinking feeling in her stomach that told her that no, they wouldn't be quite as human.

"If you have concerns," Thaw continued, seeing the woman's expression growing more concerned instead of reassured, "I'm sure Richard would be _more_ than happy to enlighten you. Shall we join him?" she gestured at her partner.

The girl glanced over, seeing that he appeared to be speaking to some guests that had their backs to them, "No," she answered, a little too quickly, "He's…he's busy, at the moment, no," she shook her head, swallowing hard, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "I'll…talk to him later?" she looked at Thaw, "If that's alright?"

Thaw nodded, "Of course dear," she smiled again, this time more forced, as though she could tell the girl truly had no desire at all to speak to the man, "I'm sure he'll appreciate your thoughtfulness in not wishing to disturb his moment."

The girl gave Thaw a small smile and nod, watching as the woman walked off, thankful she hadn't insisted upon speaking to the man just yet. She didn't know what sort of excuse she could come up with to keep that from happening. She didn't even know WHY she didn't want to talk to Lazarus, he was…she didn't know, but something in her, _every_ instinct inside of her, was telling her to get as far away from him as possible.

Because he was just…wrong.

He was wrong, so very, VERY wrong.

She shook her head and took a sip of her drink, only to grimace a moment later and spit it back into her cup.

"Urgh," she groaned under her breath, "That's terrible, that's _nothing_ like the gums," she set the cup down and picked up a napkin, dabbing at her tongue as she walked away, trying to find something that tasted less wretched to drink, and, if it brought her farther away from Lazarus and his box, that was all the better.

~8~

Lady Thaw stepped up beside Lazarus as he chatted with a few guests. She knew she should have waited, should have let them reach a break in the conversation before she interrupted, but there was something she _had_ to speak to him about. There were…concerns about the box and its viability and its safety and he would need to make some sort of demonstration, speak to a few key people and reassure them before they'd be able to take their plans to the next level. The sooner they did that the better.

"Excuse me," she smiled at the guests, placing a hand on Lazarus's arm to turn him away for a private word, "That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you!"

"This is only the beginning," Lazarus beamed, "We're not just making history, we're shaping the future, too."

"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that. And I'll be first in line!"

Lazarus winced, cracking his neck loudly with a gasp of pain before he spotted a waiter passing with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Before he knew it, he'd walked over and snatched the whole tray up, starting to gobble each and every little nibble on the plate down.

"Richard!" Thaw cried, horrified at his behavior.

All he could say in his defense was, "I'm _famished_!"

"Energy deficit," a voice spoke, making the two look over to see the Doctor and Martha approaching, the Doctor nodding his head at Lazarus in greeting, "Always happens with this kind of process."

"You speak as if you see this every day, Mr.…" Lazarus eyed the Doctor critically.

"Doctor," he replied, "And, well, no, not every day, but I have some experience in this kind of transformation."

Lazarus snorted at that, "That's not possible."

The Doctor shrugged as though he hadn't expected Lazarus to believe him anyway, "Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's…that's inspired."

 _That_ seemed to win him some approval though, "You understand the theory, then?"

"Enough to know that you couldn't _possibly_ have allowed for all the variables."

"No experiment is entirely without risk."

"That thing nearly exploded!" the Doctor almost shouted, making Lady Thaw roll her eyes, he was the second person to grouse to her about the supposed dangers the machine possessed, "You might as well have stepped into a blender."

"You're not qualified to comment," Thaw replied snippily, not needing to be nearly as polite to this man as she did other guests. She didn't recognize him so he had to be some sort of obscure investor or scientist or a family member of one of the other guests. She was certain neither she nor Richard invited him and there was no way he'd have gotten if it hadn't been a plus one of some sort.

"If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded," the Doctor repeated.

"Then I thank you, Doctor," Lazarus chuckled, "But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests," Martha agreed with the Doctor.

Thaw let out a huff of air at that, truly, it was just this case and that girl, they were the only ones that seemed to have such an issue with their successful experiment.

Lazarus took it better than she did, letting out a laugh instead of a huff, "Look at me! You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," Thaw nearly repeated the words she'd said to the young woman from before, honestly that should be all the reassurance that they needed!

But Martha just seemed horrified, "Commercially?! You are joking. That'll cause chaos!"

"Not chaos," Lazarus shook his head, " _Change_. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"This isn't about improving," the Doctor defended, "It's about you and your customers living a little longer."

Lazarus didn't even deny it, "Not a little longer, Doctor. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely."

"Richard," Thaw cut in, having had enough of this berating, "We have things to discuss. _Upstairs_."

The trio watched as she turned and walked away, her nose held so high in the air that they were sure she couldn't even see where she was going.

Still, Lazarus moved to follow, "Goodbye, Doctor. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were," he quickly reached out and took Martha's hand in his own, bestowing a kiss to the back of it, giving her a wink for good measure, before following his partner away.

"Ooh, he's out of his depth," the Doctor shook his head once they'd gotten out of earshot, "No idea of the damage he might have done."

"So what do we do now?" Martha turned to him, ready to help.

"Now…well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests."

Martha grinned and held up her hand, "Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?"

The Doctor beamed at that, letting out a happy laugh, "Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star!"

The two of them dashed off through the crowd, brushing past a young blonde woman in a white and blue dress, a woman who tensed and turned slowly, her green eyes growing impossibly wide as she saw who had passed her. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze latched onto the man in the black suit, with the brown sticky-uppy hair, and she stared as though she couldn't believe she was seeing what she was. She gasped only when they disappeared from sight through a door. She turned, maneuvering her way through the crowd in the opposite direction the two had gone, not looking up as she dug through the small clutch she'd been given yet not bumping into a single person. She moved over to a small corner of the hall, as quiet a place as she'd be able to find and pulled a mobile out, pressing it to call out on speed dial and held it to her ear.

"What's wrong?" was the instant reply on the other end, a masculine voice ringing in her ear with a seriousness and concern that would have made her smile of she hadn't been in shock.

"He's here," she swallowed hard, "The man from my dream. He's HERE."

There was a soft chuckle on the other end, "Have you said hello yet?"

"No."

"Rude," he tsked playfully.

She pouted at that, "I haven't spoken to him _at all_ yet."

"Well get to it!"

She hesitated though, "I…can't."

There was silence on the other end, "Why not?"

She glanced around at the people surrounding her and lowered her voice, "What if he doesn't like me?"

The silence was longer this time, but was followed with another soft chuckle, " _I_ like you."

"But…"

"And if _I_ like you," he sighed, almost sounding…sad, "Trust me...he'll love you."

She smiled at that, "You really think so?"

"Let's just say, 'I have a feeling.'"

"That's my line," she teased with a small laugh, feeling better.

"Got you to smile though, didn't it?"

She shook her head at that, but the fact was, she WAS smiling now, "You…you _really_ think he'll like me? You're not just saying that?"

"I do," she could almost hear the nod in his voice, "You're…an angel. Even a Dalek would love you."

She looked down, really smiling now, before nodding to herself, "I'll go talk to him now," she determined, "Thank you Harry."

A/N: What? What?! WHAT! _Harry_? Hmmm...there _are_ quite a few 'Harrys' in Doctor Who that would likely know a fair bit about Daleks though...I wonder which one this is? }:) Virtual cookie to anyone who guesses who this particular Harry is and virtual cupcakes to anyone that guesses who the woman that was helping the 'blonde' get ready before was ;)

And woo! I had posted on my tumblr when I hit 1000 followers a little 'teaser' that related to Angel ('Thank you Harry'), I hope those of you who saw it are squealing a bit now that you know where it came from ;) Series 8 and writing it for Angel, with the Master being around again, really got me excited for the prospect of starting this story in Series 3 because of the Master being there too and it made me really want to write and post this AU in particular for a few reasons we'll see ;)

Also, I've been considering titles for all the other AUs, even though I've only started the Professor and Angel's for now, I was thinking of keeping with the pattern I started with the Professor. Her AUs are 'Rewritten: Series 1' and 'Rewritten: Series 2' and so on, I think I'd like to keep that trend going with the other AUs. So this story will be 'Déjà Vu: Series 3' and the next will be 'Déjà Vu: Series 4' and so on :) I DO have a secondary title in mind for another AU (an AAU lol) I'll be posting of Angel's one day, but 'Déjà Vu' will be the designated one for this particular AU :) I feel like it relates well to the small AU changes that I'm making, especially with it starting in Series 3 it'll leave some feelings of déjà vu as we go ;)

So...Boom! Angel's back! ^-^

I have to say though, it'll depend a lot on the reaction to this AU starting that'll determine if I keep posting every other Saturday (at least for the rest of this year) or if I'll delete the story and just focus on Rewritten. On one hand I should probably focus just on one AU and get it done sooner, but on the other hand, it might be nice to see two AUs playing out and break things up a bit this year, and this AU has been really digging into me and demanding to be written/posted lol :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter though :)

For a quick reference, I picture Angel (the 'blonde') to look something like her original 9th self, which is someone similar to Laura Vandervoort ;)


	2. The Lazarus Experiment: You're Here?

The Lazarus Experiment: You're Here?

It was with a celebratory mood that Lady Thaw sipped away at her scotch while she and Lazarus sat in his office, looking out at the lights of London glistening in the darkness. The day was nearly over and tomorrow would start with the world changed, thanks to them.

"I grew up over there," Lazarus nodded towards the window, pointing slightly with his glass, "Tiny flat above a butcher's shop."

"It'll have a blue plaque soon," Thaw smiled at him, "'Richard Lazarus lived here.'"

"It's gone," he sighed, shaking his head, "Destroyed in the war. The bombing."

"Of course."

"1940," he mused, "D'you remember? Night after night. Explosions. Guns. Firestorm."

"My parents had sent me to the country by then," she shrugged, not sounding at all concerned for what HE had gone through during that time, when he had just been a young boy.

"When the sirens went, we'd go to the cathedral there," he pointed to another area, "We used to shelter in the crypt…the living cowering among the dead."

"But look at what you've built here, now," she tried to keep him in the present, though a part of her was growing weary with all his talk of the war. She much preferred to live in the now, "You've laid the foundations for an _empire_. An empire we can rule together," she reached out and tugged him closer, pressing a kiss to his lips…

Only to have him yank himself away with a hiss.

"Well, what's wrong?"

Lazarus just grimaced at her, wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand before laughing darkly. He reached out, gently taking her chin in his hands, but then tightening his grip and turning her head sharply, making her look at the window, at her reflection in it, making her take in the wrinkles and gray hair.

"Look at yourself, woman," he sneered at her.

She shot him a glare and shoved his hand away.

~8~

The Doctor frowned in his brainy specs as he eyed the results of the DNA scan he and Martha had run on Lazarus's sample. They'd found an empty lab, one that was far too easy to access what with all the attention back in reception instead of the halls, and quickly got to work putting the computers to use. He'd had to run the scan twice as he'd gotten distracted, looking towards the door before forcing himself to focus.

"Amazing," he muttered, eyeing the results.

Even though he'd said that, his expression was decidedly less amazed and more concerned, his brow furrowed. It was to be expected though, the niggle that had become an itch was now a slight pressure in his head. He kept trying to push it away, to bury it, to focus on what was happening with Lazarus, but it was getting harder to ignore.

"What?" Martha glanced at him, not seeing anything truly amazing before her. It was a simple DNA strand.

"Lazarus's DNA."

"I can't see anything different."

"Look at it!" the Doctor quickly pointed to the screen as he spoke, just as what appeared to be a glitch struck the screen, making the strand flicker and warp.

"Oh, my God!" she blinked, "Did that just _change_? But it can't have!"

"But it _did_ ," he nodded, rubbing his ear, his eyes flickering to the door that led to the hall, the hall that led to reception. He shook his head, putting his gaze back on the screen, watching as it warped again.

"It's impossible."

"And that's two impossible things we've seen tonight," he agreed, smiling, though he couldn't help but feel like it was forced, "Don't you love it when that happens?"

"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns."

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure, then a mutagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands," he mumbled, feeling his eyes turn back to the door. He didn't know how long he stared at it in his distraction till he could almost feel Martha's own eyes boring a hole into the side of his face. He glanced at her, seeing a confused expression on her face, "Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate," he simplified for her.

"But they're still mutating now," Martha pointed at the screen which was starting to warp at an alarming pace now.

"Cos he missed something," the Doctor murmured, pulling his brainy specs off his face. He couldn't help but feel like HE was missing something as well, something staring him right in the face yet…was just too far out of his grasp, "Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize. Something that's trying to change him."

Martha hesitated, not sure if she wanted to know the answer to her question, "Change him into what?"

"I dunno," he frowned, nodding to himself, "But I think we need to find out."

"That woman said they were going upstairs…"

He stood quickly, "Let's go!" he turned to lead her out of the lab, through a door on the other side of the room that led to a more employee-only hall that would give them more cover.

Only moments after they exited the room, the main door opened and the blonde girl poked her head in.

"Hello?" she called tentatively, looking around, but there was no one there. She frowned, she could have sworn that the man was there. She'd been wandering the labs, trying to find him and his friend and her feet had led her to the laboratory halls. They were all dark, save for one with a light coming from beneath the door.

That had _had_ to be the one that they were in, yet the room was empty.

She glanced around, not sure if the two might return, before she stepped further into the room and wandered around it. There had to be something there that they'd needed or been doing before she'd gotten there and they'd left, some clue about where they had gone now. And, given there was one computer still on with a scan running, it was fairly easy to find.

She moved over to the computer and sat down before it, tilting her head as she looked at, what appeared to be, a very mutated DNA strand. But then again, maybe it wasn't. Maybe that was just what human DNA looked like, she wasn't sure. She blinked, gasping when the screen flickered and the mutation got worse, now sure that, even if she didn't know what it was meant to look like she was sure that it wasn't meant to _change_. Her eyes scanned the screen for any sort of clue what was going on and felt the breath leave her when she saw a name attached to the scan. It was automated, the scan identified the source of the DNA.

It was Professor Lazarus!

She glanced at the door to the hall for only a moment before getting up and hurrying out there, she had been right in her fears, something truly _had_ gone wrong…

And now Lazarus was paying the price

And so might everyone else.

She didn't know much about science, she'd been truthful in that, she wasn't a genius by any stretch of the imagination, but even she knew that when DNA mutated, it was never a good thing.

~8~

The mood in Lazarus's office had gone from celebratory to tense within in moments as Lady Thaw paced behind her partner angrily while he just irritatingly calmly looked out the window still, "It's _me_ who made this all possible!" she snapped at him, still spurned by his rejection of her kiss, "This is _my_ triumph, and I will not be denied, not by you, not after everything I've done here!"

"You backed me because you saw a profit," he muttered, "Your concern was financial."

"Well! You want the money as much as I do. We had a _plan_!" she turned her back on him, not seeing him close his eyes as his entire body cracked instead of just his neck this time, "When the device is ready, I'll be rejuvenated, too. We could be rich and young and together!"

"You think I'd water another lifetime on _you_?" he spat, standing and turning to face her.

"Did that process make you even more cruel?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, my love. That I learnt from you. You have a gift for it."

"Then you know that I'll protect my involvement in the project," she lifted her chin, "I'm sure Mr. Saxon's representative will be interested…" she cut off suddenly when Lazarus nearly buckled to the floor, groaning as his body tensed in pain, "What's going on?"

Lazarus could barely gasp out an answer, "It must just be…ah!" his body twisted in a spasm.

"What is it?" she took a single step towards him, hesitating to touch him or get too near after their last spat.

"I'll be fine in a moment," he waved her off, "It's probably just a cramp," he offered her a single smile that quickly warped into a grimace of pain as he collapsed to the floor.

"Oh! Richard!" she rushed to his side, wanting to help, but the man was twisting and seizing too much for her to be able to touch him, "Is it some sort of seizure? What should I do? I don't understand what's happening!"

She jumped back in horror as he screamed, his bones starting to crack and his skin ripple as his body twisted and transformed, his suit tearing as his entire body tore apart as well, leaving nothing but a monster in its wake with a razor sharp tail that shot out at her…

~8~

A young blonde woman entered reception and wandered about, looking to see if Professor Lazarus had returned from where it was he'd gone with Lady Thaw, but it didn't appear that he was there. She had had to choose between following her gut as it told her to go through the employee-only doorway or return to reception and she'd chosen reception, hoping she might be able to find Lazarus first...now though it seemed she'd missed the opportunity to find him as well as the man from her dream too. She let out a small huff of breath, looking around one last time, about to head off and try to ask one of the men that had escorted her there for help…when she overheard someone asking over another pair that had disappeared.

"Have you seen Martha and that Doctor anywhere?" an older woman was asking a young girl that was vaguely familiar to her.

"Not since the demonstration," the girl shook her head.

"Do you know anything about him? Has she ever mentioned him before?"

"Not to me."

"The way she followed him…"

"She's a doctor," the girl shrugged, "She was just doing her job."

"She's not a doctor yet. Never will be, if she doesn't stay focused!"

"Look," a young man cut into the argument, "She's found a bloke. So what?"

"There's something going on, Leo, I can feel it," the woman huffed.

The blonde woman hesitated a moment longer, feeling bad for eavesdropping, but hoping one of them might have mentioned where…Martha, was it? Martha and the man had gone. She could only guess and hope that they'd gone to find Lazarus as well but their paths had led them to separate locations.

She shook her head, turning to head out of the room, she would give the lab one more walk through for Lazarus before asking for help from someone.

Ironically, only moments after she had stepped out of the room in search of Lazarus, the man himself entered, stepping out of a lift in a different suit. He cracked his neck and grinned, making his way over to Tish, who had stepped away from her mother to speak to some guests, and placing his hand on her shoulder, "Leticia Jones. I'd recognize the smell of that soap anywhere."

Quite unlike the last time he'd touched her, Tish smiled and blushed as she saw him behind her, "Professor."

"I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, you'll have to excuse me while I take care of Leticia here," he smiled at his guests, "I've been neglecting her," he trailed his hand down her arm to her hand and led her away as she willingly went.

~8~

Martha stepped out of a lift and into Lazarus's office, glancing at the Doctor as he flicked on the lights, revealing the room to be empty but clearly an office, "This is his office, alright."

"So, where is he?" the Doctor wondered, glancing around.

Martha sighed at that, "Dunno," and the lab was enormous, quite a few floors of test areas and research computers and offices…finding Lazarus might take them all night if they weren't careful. And Lazarus would have access to the security cameras that were scattered around, that would give the man the advantage if he realized he was being sought to avoid them. She shook her head and gave the room one more glance, "Let's try back at the…reception…" her breath left her as she spotted something that was most certainly NOT office equipment lying behind a desk.

A skeleton.

A skeleton in high heels.

She and the Doctor hurried over to see it wasn't quite a skeleton, but more a desiccated body, one so dried out it was nearly skeletal in appearance.

"Is that Lady Thaw?" Martha stared in horror.

"Used to be," the Doctor nodded, recognizing the clothing as being the same that the woman was wearing before, "Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out. Like squeezing the juice out of an orange."

"Lazarus."

The Doctor glanced up at her, his gaze flickering to the lift before he forced his attention back to her, "Could be."

"So he's changed already."

"Not necessarily," he rubbed his head, that pressure in the back of his mind was getting firmer now, more pressing, "You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough."

"So he might do this _again_?" Martha was horrified at the prospect.

All the answer she needed to that question was the Doctor straightening and running to the lift to head back down to reception as she'd suggested they do before.

Just as their lift door closed, another opened, and out stepped none other than Lazarus and Tish, the man still leading her along by the hand, "You seem very young to have such a responsible position," he remarked, "Have you much experience?"

"Not really," Tish smiled at him, her gaze so focused on him that she didn't even see the body lying across the room, "But the interview panel thought I had all the necessary attributes."

"How perceptive of them."

She blushed, "So where are you taking me?" she blinked flirtatiously.

"Up to the roof. It's a lovely evening. I thought I'd show you the view. It's extraordinary."

"Like a lot of things around here, then," she gave him a pointed look.

The man grinned, rather pleased with that, before he turned and gestured for her to walk ahead, his hand resting on the small of her back as he nudged her on, cracking his neck as he followed her.

Yet again, the moment the doors to the roof closed behind them, the doors to a second lift opened and the blonde woman stepped out.

She paused, glancing around the room, her eye falling on the roof doorway and slowly drifting up higher towards the ceiling as she frowned. She shook her head and stepped further into the room, looking around for a moment…before she stiffened.

She slowly turned, looking over her shoulder at something she'd caught in the corner of her eye, the remains lying on the floor, "Oh no," she murmured, making her way over to the woman and kneeling beside her, "Oh I'm sorry, Lady Thaw," she frowned at the body, noting that the face was frozen in an expression of terror, its eyes wide and eyelids too dry to close, "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

She looked around, trying to find something that could be of help when she spotted a coat rack to the side. She stood and made her way to it, pulling the largest one she could find off of it and bringing it back with her to Lady Thaw. She crouched down once more, gently lying the coat over her body as a sign of respect.

"I won't let him do this to anyone else," she promised the woman's spirit.

She stood, glancing up at the ceiling once more, her face morphing into an expression of reluctance, before she glanced at the lift, weighing something in her mind but then hurrying over to the device, taking it back down.

Perhaps this time she would be fast enough…

~8~

Martha and the Doctor nearly bolted out of the lift and back into reception, looking around for Lazarus, but it appeared the man wasn't there either, which made no sense to them as he had appeared to be quite in love with the attention the crowd had been giving him before. They couldn't think of another place he might be or a reason why he wasn't there.

"I can't see him," Martha muttered.

"He can't be far," the Doctor reasoned, giving her a glance before hurrying off, calling, "Keep looking!" over his shoulder as he disappeared into the crowd.

Martha sighed at that, assuming that they'd be splitting up anyway to find the man but it would have been nice for him to _say_ it.

"Hey, you alright, Marth?" she heard her brother call as she turned to see him approaching her, "I think Mum wants to talk to you…"

"Have you see Lazarus anywhere?" she cut in, too concerned with what Lazarus might do to the people there, to her FAMILY that was there, if he wasn't stopped soon.

"Yeah. He was getting cozy with Tish a couple of minutes ago."

"With _Tish_!?" she almost screeched, loud enough for the Doctor to hear and make his way over to her just a moment before her mother appeared.

"Ah, Doctor…" Mrs. Jones began, but the Doctor completely disregarded her to focus on Leo.

"Where did they go?"

"Upstairs I think...why?" Leo frowned, seeing the Doctor and Martha exchanging concerned glances and feeling like he was missing something.

"Doctor," Mrs. Jones tried once more, "Doc…" but he was already off, half-shoving past her and causing her to spill her drink all over herself in the process, "I'm speaking to you! "

"Not now, Mum!" Martha snapped, dashing after him.

Mrs. Jones huffed at that, turning to another table to find a napkin, not caring to follow Martha or that blasted Doctor to the lift as it opened for them.

The second lift doors opened and the blonde women stepped out, moving a little farther into the room, only to tense when she heard a pair of lift doors starting to shut behind her. She turned just in time to see the man from her dream and the girl, Martha, inside one a moment before the doors shut completely.

"Oh this is getting ridiculous," she muttered, managing to slide into her own lift just as the doors were shutting. She turned, pressing a button to follow the other lift and looked out at the reception room once more.

She frowned, turning to lean to the side, following the door as it shut in order to look out longer when she spotted one of her escorts approaching Martha's other with a napkin and speaking to her…

~8~

The Doctor and Martha rushed out of the lift, hurrying into the middle of Lazarus's office, Martha half spinning around in an attempt to spot her sister or Lazarus but with no luck, "Where are they!?"

The Doctor quickly whipped out the sonic, flicking it on and scanning around, "Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature. I might be able to pick it up, find out where he is and…"

"He's on the roof," a voice said behind them, causing both the Doctor and Martha to jump and spin around only to see a young woman who appeared to be around their age in a white dress with a lacy blue sheath over it step out of the second lift, looking at them with wide green eyes, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders in light curls.

"Sorry, what?" Martha asked, trying to play it off for why they'd be there, talking about DNA signatures with a dead body not ten feet away.

The Doctor however, just stared at the woman, his arm still half raised, the sonic still whirring as he just… _stared_.

The girl blinked, "Professor Lazarus," she answered, "He's on the roof."

"I don't think he's…" Martha began, but the Doctor merely pointed the sonic straight up, causing it to beep loudly, indicating that Lazarus _was_ above them and, with that being the top floor, the roof was all that was left.

"How did you know?" the Doctor asked, lowering his arm, but still staring.

It should have been unnerving, Martha pondered, the intensity of the stare he was giving the girl, but the blonde just gave a soft smile, not seeming perturbed.

"I know because…" she sighed, "Because I _don't_ want to go on the roof."

"Why not?"

"Because he's there."

"But how do you KNOW?"

"Because he feels wrong," the girl said, "Can't you _feel_ it? You're a Time Lord, can't you feel how _wrong_ he is?" she shook her head, glancing up at the ceiling, "I can feel it from here," and back at him to see his eyes had grown even wider.

"How do you know I'm a Time Lord?"

"The same way you know that I am too," she answered calmly, gesturing to the back of her head, "There's a niggle in the back of your head, you sense me here," she tilted her head, eyeing him, "I think you've been ignoring it, because it hurts. But I AM here, I really am," she smiled a bit, "You are not alone."

The Doctor almost dropped the sonic at that, at hearing the familiar words that the Face of Boe had told him echoing back. He actually stumbled back as if her words had physically hit him.

"But how…"

"Doctor," Martha cut in, "I know, I KNOW this is a really big thing for you, you told me about the war, about losing your family and your people and yeah, this is _monumental_ that there's a…what do you call a female Time Lord?" she glanced at the girl, asking, but held up her hand just as the girl opened her mouth to answer, cutting her off, "Never mind," she faced the Doctor again, "I get it, I do, this is _big_ , but, Doctor, my sister, MY family is up on a roof with a human whose DNA is mutating into something and I need to get her to safety, right now."

"She's right," the girl spoke, pulling the Doctor's attention to her, "Family should _always_ come first. Sisters especially."

There was something in her voice that told him she had once had a sister, much like he'd had a brother, but neither existed any longer. He swallowed hard, a terrible thought hitting him, a question of whether this girl, this Time Lady, knew the role he'd played in that, in taking their family and friends and planet from them. But he shook it off, it would come up again, he was sure, but right now…right now there was a _Time Lady_ before him, another one of his people standing right there, and, for just this moment, they could pretend he hadn't done anything and help save a young human girl.

Maybe if the Time Lady saw him save a human, saw him being 'the Doctor,' she'd be able to hold onto that, to see that was who he truly was, not his actions during the war.

"Right," he nodded, "To the roof."

~8~

Tish smiled as she looked out at the lights of London from the roof, the stars sparkling above her, Lazarus close beside her. She couldn't help but let out a happy sigh at the beautiful sight, "That clock tower's beautiful all lit up like that."

"It's Southwark Cathedral," Lazarus explained, "One of the oldest churches in London. Been around longer than I have."

"Well, you're looking pretty good for your age," she joked.

"Thank you."

"Can I…" she gestured at his face.

"Of course," he bowed his head slightly, leaning in to allow her to touch his face, closing his eyes and turning his head so that he could feel her skin on his more firmly.

"Still can't take it in," she murmured, looking at him intently.

"I'm still adjusting myself," he laughed lightly, "I've been working toward it for too many years, it's hard to believe the moment's finally arrived."

"And is it like you expected?"

"I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. 'Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act…'"

"'Falls the shadow,'" a different voice than Lazarus's finished.

Tish gasped as she jumped, the two of them turning to see Martha approaching with the Doctor and another woman with blonde hair beside them. Tish's eyes widened at the sight, more so for the woman that had joined her sister than the fact that her sister had snuck up on her. She had to ask her later, she made a note, how Martha had run into _her_ or if she knew her. SHE knew who the woman was, of course she did, she had sent out all the invitations and made the guest list, she knew nearly everyone that was there, save the Doctor that Martha brought as a date…but still. Did Martha know the woman too? If so, her sister had been holding out far more of a social life than she'd let on! Rude.

"So the mysterious Doctor knows his Eliot," Lazarus chuckled, not seeming at all uneasy with their sudden appearance, in fact, he seemed a bit TOO confident, "I'm impressed."

"Me too," the blonde woman, the Time Lady, agreed, not seeming to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

Tish, however, seemed far from impressed, turning to glare at her sister for the interruption now that the shock of seeing the three of them had worn off, "Martha, what are you _doing_ here?"

"Tish," Martha tensed, watching as Lazarus smirked, almost as though he were amused to see what she'd say, "Get away from him."

And, of course, a direct order from a sibling garnered nothing but refusal, "What? Don't tell me what to do."

"Eliot is poetry, yes?" the Time Lady asked, glancing around before focusing on Lazarus, "Wouldn't it have been better to spend more time on that box of yours than to learn a poem? If you had, it might have worked better."

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus," the Doctor agreed, "What with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all."

"You're right," Lazarus let out a breath, "One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more would I get done in two or three or four?"

"The span of a life isn't what defines it," the Time Lady frowned, "I've done hardly anything in almost 8 centuries except for work on boxes…" the Doctor's gaze turned to her for that, for how easily she spoke of her being an alien to a human, she revealed it far too easily, almost as though she wasn't used to hiding it.

Tish, though, seemed to think she was a nutter...yet she was keeping her lips pressed together to not say anything rude about it, the last thing they needed was the girl to report back to the ones that sent her that she'd been insulted.

Though that act of silence was a bit confusing, Martha had to note, Tish hardly ever held her tongue.

"And I've seen humans live a fraction of that and do extraordinary things," the Time Lady frowned, as though working something out, "It's about the person, not the time."

"Ah," Lazarus nodded, "But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be."

"Or what a curse," the Doctor countered.

The Time Lady looked to the Doctor for a moment at that, her frown deepening at his remark, "Or a _blessing_ ," she gave him a look, "Depending on the person, I think it could be just…" she tried to find the word to describe it and went with the first one that popped into her head, "Fantastic."

The Doctor blinked at that word.

But the Time Lady had already turned her attention back to Lazarus, "I don't think _you_ having more time would change anything."

The Doctor shook his head, focusing back on the situation at hand, "Look at what you've done to yourself."

Both their remarks seemed to get to Lazarus as the man's expression morphed from a smile to a sneer, "Who are _you_ to judge _me_?"

"Over here, Tish," Martha held out her hands to her sister, beckoning her over to her.

Tish gave a roll of her eyes but started to walk away from Lazarus, much to Martha's relief, she could even ignore Tish's next remarks at the fact that with each word Tish was farther and farther away from the man, "You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault."

However the relief quickly faded when, right behind Tish's back, Lazarus dropped to his knees, another attack striking him.

"Tish, he's a monster!" Martha gasped out, her eyes fixed on Lazarus.

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones…" Tish trailed off as she heard Lazarus starting to growl behind her, something else in his voice, a deep, animalistic tone to it. She froze, turning to look over her shoulder at the man…the man who was NOT a man any longer but a monster, a giant, skeleton-scorpion mutant of sorts.

She screamed as Lazarus lunged at her, only to be pulled back by the Time Lady, "Run!" the woman shouted, turning to pull Tish back towards the door to the labs, Martha and the Doctor rushing behind her.

She shoved the doors open, the Doctor slamming them closed behind them, using his sonic screwdriver to seal them shut, trying to give them more time to get away from Lazarus though he doubted the doors would keep the man out for long.

"Are you ok?" Martha called to her sister as they reached the lifts, trying to press the button to bring one up to them.

The Doctor looked over, seeing the Time Lady was shifting nervously, glancing at the numbers above the lift doors to the stairs behind her, biting her lip.

"I was gonna snog him," was all Tish could work out to say.

"I thought humans preferred attachments nearer to their age?" the Time Lady frowned, seeming distracted for a moment from her nerves, "Isn't he quite a few decades older than you?"

"Some people just…go for that," the Doctor mumbled, suddenly blushing as he recalled a kiss or two he'd shared with a human girl or younger alien here and there. It seemed that they took physical appearance more so than actual age, "They're very visually oriented. So long as they look near enough, it's fine for them."

"Oh," the Time Lady nodded, as though JUST realizing something else and making a connection, "Yes, that does make sense…"

She glanced to the side just a moment before a bang sounded in that direction, so near to the noise that, had the Doctor not been looking at her, he would have thought she'd flinched towards the sound, but it had been a split second before it.

It was Lazarus, trying to break his way through the door, setting off the security system of the labs in the process, "Security breach," came the automated response, "Security breach. Security beach."

"What's happening?" Martha gasped.

The Time Lady blinked, "Well, I think there's a breach in security happening."

Martha was quite sure she would have been quite angry and irritated at the Time Lady's words, had they been mocking or sarcastic instead of genuine. The Time Lady truly seemed to think she was actually asking a real question about why the alarms were going off.

Tish, though, had an actual answer about the situation, "Uh, an intrusion. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts. Seals the exits."

"He must be breaking through that door," the Doctor mumbled, glancing at the lifts and knowing that they wouldn't be working in such a situation, "The stairs, come on!" he reached out and quickly ushered the girls down ahead of him, noting briefly that the Time Lady was wearing flat shoes, something odd considering all the heels he'd seen every other woman in the reception area wearing. Even Martha was wearing heels…which were probably quite hard to run in…

They had only just made it down the stairs when there was a loud crash above them, the sound of metal warping and slapping against walls, which could only mean one thing to Martha, "He's inside!"

"He crashed through a door," the Time Lady remarked, "Doors are notoriously easy to open."

"Haven't got much time!" the Doctor cut in, pushing them on towards reception, not even stopping or slowing as they burst through the doors, just shouting orders and questions as he went, "Tish! Is there another way out of here?"

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now," Tish answered promptly.

The Doctor had only just reached into his pocket for his sonic when the Time Lady spoke, "Here," she called, pulling a small card out of her clutch purse, "Use this," she handed it to Tish, giving the Doctor a glance at the sonic, "You may need that for later."

"What's that?" the Doctor frowned at the card, but Tish had already rushed off with Martha to get the doors open, knowing that the chaos would soon cause everyone to panic.

"Security card," she said simply, "Overrides the systems."

"How did you get that?" he gave her a curious look.

"I thought all the guests had one?" she frowned, "To get into the lab for the experiment."

The Doctor opened his mouth but promptly closed it with a snap, he really didn't know. He and Martha had gotten in a different way and apparently the Time Lady had been invited for some reason. Well, it made sense, Martha's sister was there, that was a personal invitation, and he had the psychic paper…perhaps all the other guests _did_ have security cards. But then why had she been invited? Why was she there?

No, no, that was a question for another day when they weren't being chased by a psychotic scorpion.

"Right," he muttered, before shaking his head and looking around the room, hopping on top of a small platform before the white box that Lazarus had created, "Listen to me!" he shouted, trying to speak above the din of the guests, "You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"

"Don't be ridiculous," a rather wealthy looking blonde woman sneered, "The biggest danger here is choking on an olive."

"That is…a very large olive," the Time Lady murmured from beside the Doctor when a crash sounded above them and glass rained down on them, Lazarus, in all his skeletal-scorpioned glory, fell down before them, roaring.

It only took a split second before the crowd sprang into a panic and herded towards the doors.

The Time Lady looked between the fleeing crowd to the rather rude woman to the young black man that had been talking to Martha before, "Mum, get back!" Leo shouted.

"Get down!" she called to the man who turned to see who was shouting and gasped as he saw a table flying right for him. He quickly dropped down, his mother crying out for him, just barely missing being hit by the table as it sailed over him, leaving him scrambling towards his mother and the exit.

"Over here!" Martha was yelling to the guests, she and Tish managing to get one of the doors open despite the crowd behind them trying to push their way out, "This way! Everyone downstairs now! Hurry!"

"No!" the Doctor's voice cut through the Time Lady's watching of the guests flooding out of the room and pulled her gaze to the rude woman who had frozen in shock, Lazarus approaching her, "Get away from her!"

She tried to step forward, to run to the woman and pull her back, but the Doctor reached out and grabbed her, holding her back because it was too late, Lazarus had already impaled the woman with his tail and was sucking the life energy out of her within moments, leaving her lifeless husk to fall to the ground.

"Oi!" the Time Lady called as Lazarus grinned at the dried corpse on the ground and started to make his way after the crowd, "Leave them alone!"

"What's the point if you can't control it?" the Doctor added, stepping away from the Time Lady in his arms, moving slightly before her to speak to Lazarus directly, "The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool, a vain old man who thought he could defy Nature. Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!"

"Why would you…" the Time Lady began to ask, not sure why the Doctor would start try to infuriate Lazarus so, but he didn't even let her finish speaking before he took her hand and ran out of the room, pulling her behind him as Lazarus roared and charged after them, ignoring the other guests, "Oh."

~8~

"What's the Doctor doing?!" Tish cried as she looked back, making sure that the guests were all getting out safe, just in time to see him run off with the blonde woman.

Martha glanced over, her eyes widening at the sight of Lazarus chasing them, and realized what he'd done, "He's trying to buy us some time. Let's not waste it. Come on everyone!" she shouted to the crowd, "Hurry, come on! Faster, get out of the labs!" the moment that the crowd had passed her, she turned to her sister, "Tish, move!" she pushed the girl on, "We need to get out of here!"

Tish tried to glance back, dread on her face as she saw the Doctor and the woman disappear out of the room. Oh that was not good, not good at all. They were so going to be sued for this if anything happened to that woman...

~8~

The Doctor panted as he and the Time Lady came to a stop in the middle of a service hall, pipes lining the wall, the lights out above them. He spun around when he heard a hissing noise that was most certainly NOT the pipes.

"It's no good, Doctor," Lazarus's voice echoed above them, "You can't stop me."

"Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?" the Doctor challenged.

"The arrogance is yours. You can't stand in the way of progress."

"Murdering humans is not progress!" the Time Lady frowned.

"It is a necessary sacrifice."

"Sacrifice means _saving_ lives not ending them," the Time Lady argued, "And it is NOT your decision to make who dies and when. Only a monster would think that."

"Well," Lazarus hissed, "If you have missed the memo, my dear, I AM a monster now!"

~8~

"No!" Martha gasped as they ran into the doors of the main entrance, only to find them entirely locked due to the security shut down, "They're locked, we're trapped!"

"No, no, here," Tish passed Martha the card the woman had given her, "Use this."

Martha frowned, not quite sure she believed it would be useful, but swiped it across a security reader, her eyes widening when the doors opened, allowing the party goers out, "It worked?"

"Course it did," Tish pushed Martha out after her, "She's one of the lab founder's representatives!" she told her, "Of all the guests, she'd have the security clearance to override the system. Now go!"

~8~

The Doctor and the Time Lady looked up when the lights suddenly flickered on, revealing them to Lazarus who was hanging off the ceiling above them, "Peek-a-boo."

"Oh, hello," the Doctor gave a small wave.

The Time Lady just grabbed his hand and pulled him off down the hallway, trying to keep ahead of Lazarus as he roared and followed.

~8~

Martha gave the guests a quick look as she reached the main outer stairs of the lab, making sure they were all out and all safe and heading away from the labs, before turning to her family, reassured they were safe as well, "I've got to go back."

"You can't!" her mother sounded utterly appalled that she would say that, "You saw what that thing did. It'll kill you."

But Martha remained firm, shaking her head, "I don't care. I have to go."

"It's that Doctor, isn't it?" her mother sneered, angry, "That's what's happened to you. That's why you've changed."

"He was buying us time, Martha," her sister tried to remind her, "Time for you to get out, too."

"I'm not leaving him," Martha argued.

"Martha!" her mother hissed.

But Martha had already turned to leave, running back into the lab, frantically searching for the Doctor and the mysterious woman who might very well be the only other Time Lord left.

She almost felt angry, at how the Doctor had sent her off with her sister and taken the other woman with him to lure Lazarus away. But she could understand, after a moment or two to calm down, she understood. That girl, if she really was a Time Lord female, the Doctor would never _ever_ risk losing her in the crowd or letting her away from him till he got answers. He would keep the Time...Lady closer than he would her, especially considering she'd made such a big thing about finding her sister and keeping her family safe. She would have gone with them anyway, wanted to make sure they got out alright. Still, it did sting a bit that he had automatically turned to the Time Lady he'd just met instead of the one-time companion that had been around longer than one-time.

~8~

The Doctor frowned as they ran down the hall, not for the fact that Lazarus was still chasing them, but for the fact that he wasn't the one doing the leading at the moment. The Time Lady was still leading him down a hall, not quite sure where she was going. He wasn't sure if _she_ even knew where they were going either, but she was leading them somewhere.

"Where are we…" he began to ask when she opened a door and tugged him into it. He blinked as he looked around, seeing that it was one of the more scientific labs, complete with gas pipes and bunsin burners. He set his face in a determined expression and pulled the sonic out, this time taking the lead himself as he pulled her through the lab, flicking the sonic on and causing all the pipes to start leaking gas.

He hurried to a light fixture on the wall just beside a door on the other end of the room, using the sonic to pull the panel off it and began pulling wires out.

"He's coming," the Time Lady whispered to him in warning.

He glanced over towards the back door, able to hear Lazarus stomping about just outside it moments later. He reached out and took her hand once more, guiding her back behind him and more into the doorway as he faced down the opposite door moments before Lazarus burst in.

He didn't say a word, merely made eye contact with Lazarus, before he turned and pushed the Time Lady into the hall, the two of them starting to run down it as he flicked the sonic on over his shoulder, knowing Lazarus was likely halfway across the room by now, right in place. The lights activated, the wires he'd broken sparking and causing a massive explosion in the room.

"You ok?" he looked at the Time Lady as she winced and stumbled at the force of the explosion.

"Yeah," she nodded, "Just…my ears are ringing."

"Sorry," he grimaced, knowing he hadn't made the best impression. He opened his mouth to say more when they reached a corner and someone ran into them, none other than Martha Jones, "What are you doing here!?"

"I heard the explosion," Martha panted, "Guessed it was you. Thought you might need some help. What happened?"

"I blasted Lazarus," he stated.

"Did you kill him?"

"If he did, he's come back to life," the Time Lady mumbled when they heard a crashing noise behind them along with an agonized growl and roar from what could only be Lazarus escaping the room.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say," the Doctor countered, before turning to lead them off down the hall, his mind racing with theories and plans and hopes of how he could get them all out of this mess.

Because he'd only just found another Time Lord, what could very well be the last Time Lady, and he was _not_ about to let something like Lazarus injure either one of them or take her from him, not now, not when he was finally not the last of his kind.

~8~

Just outside the labs, Mrs. Jones was sitting dejectedly and angrily beside her son while Tish stood before them, trying to reassure her mother, "She'll be alright. The Doctor and her, they'll look out for each other."

"She turned her back on us, went in there with that thing for him," Mrs. Jones spat.

Tish glanced at her brother for that remark and then back to the lab entrance. A majority of the crowd had left by now but their mother refused to do so without her daughter. She shifted as she looked at the crowd, she could see some men still lingering and knew what they were waiting for, or should she say WHO they were waiting for. That girl, the blonde girl, it had been very, very clear when the RSVP had been returned that the girl's presence was to be kept on the lowest of downs, no big fuss, no cameras, no hounding. It was why she had escorts with her.

She wasn't sure if the men even knew she was still in the building or if they were searching the crowds for her, if they assumed she'd gotten out or something else. She couldn't work out why they wouldn't be rushing in there to get the girl out, but at the same time, she also didn't want to bring it up. SHE had organized all of this, well…she hadn't organized Lazarus turning into a monster and attacking people, but everything else would be on her. She was responsible for the guests and the quieter she was about the girl's whereabouts, the better her job security was.

And the girl was relatively safe, she had to be, she was with that Doctor bloke and Martha would be with her soon enough.

"He must be some guy," Leo tried to lighten the mood.

"Maybe she loves him," Tish jumped on that idea, hoping that it might be true. Surely their mother couldn't have that much of an issue if it was love.

"She just met him!"

Alright, apparently their mother could.

"Is your daughter still in there with the Doctor?" a voice asked.

Mrs. Jones looked up to see a man that had offered her a napkin earlier standing there and stood to face him, "Do you know him?"

The man nodded, solemn, "He's dangerous," he glanced around, lowering his voice, "There are things you should know."

Leo and Tish glanced at each other for that, wary of the man, but Mrs. Jones didn't seem perturbed at all as she stepped closer to the man, leading him off a few steps with a hand on his arm, "What things?"

The man leaned in to whisper in her ear just how dangerous that Doctor could be…

~8~

"What now?" Martha gasped as they dashed back into reception, "We've just gone 'round in a circle!" she cried, seeing where they'd ended up.

She shot a small glare at the Time Lady for that one. They'd been running one way when they'd reached a cross section of halls, the girl hadn't even stopped to consider what way would be best before she took off down one, leaving the Doctor to follow and her to take up the rear. And now they were just back where they started and no safer at all.

The Doctor turned in a circle, trying to find something that could help them when his gaze landed on Lazarus's machine. He glanced at the Time Lady a moment and back at the box, opening his mouth to ask her something, something rather important if the plan forming in his mind had a chance of working, but before he could even utter a sound Lazarus threw himself into the room.

"We can't lead him outside," he muttered, ushering the two women towards the box, "Come on, get in!"

The Time Lady tripped, falling to her knees as they scrambled into the box, forcing her to sit on the bottom of it while he and Martha crowded the upper half, just barely managing to get the door to the machine closed and sealed with the sonic.

"Are we hiding?" Martha panted, awkwardly smushed against the Doctor while also trying not to crush or step on the woman at her feet.

"I hope not," the Time Lady remarked, "I'm rubbish at Hide and Seek."

The Doctor blinked at that, feeling a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but he shook his head, "No, he knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us."

"But we're trapped!" Martha cried.

"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem."

"You mean you don't have a plan?" Martha shot him a look.

"Yes, the plan was to get inside here!"

"Then what?!"

"Well…then I'd hope that my assumption is right and I haven't made an arse of myself," he muttered.

"What?"

"You," he looked down at the Time Lady, "Er…um, sorry what's your name?"

"Oh, um, well, in the Naming Ceremony I chose the Angel," the Time Lady stated.

"Well," he blinked, "That's fitting," he smiled at her, "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but I really, _really_ hope I'm not, but the boxes, the ones you worked on for near 800 years…those wouldn't happen to be TARDISes would they?"

The Time Lady, Angel, blinked up at him, "Yes…"

"Brilliant," he beamed, utterly relieved. He wiggled slightly and managed to get his arm unsmushed to toss the sonic down to her…though it ended up becoming more like a drop than a toss, the sonic landing next to her, "Sorry," he apologized, glancing at the door when he heard Lazarus starting to shuffle around the machine, "But um, pop open the panel," he nodded at the floor where a panel was hiding the controls and wiring.

"What're you gonna do?" Martha asked as Angel did as she was told.

"I'd like to know that too," Angel agreed, looking up at him.

"Can you set this thing to reflect energy instead of receive it?" the Doctor inquired, "It should be easier than setting a TARDIS to do the same, but they should have the same principles and structure..."

"I...I think so," Angel murmured, examining the wires and set up a moment, turning to start pulling and tugging at the wires.

Martha sighed as Angel got to work, "I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?"

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin," the Doctor answered, shuffling to give Angel more room.

"Human? How can it be human?"

"Probably some dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant."

"So it's a throwback."

"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there, locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake."

"I wish he'd been a fish," Angel murmured, sounding, for some reason, like she was recalling a past conversation instead of just making a remark, "Gills and air…he'd have slowed down at least. Fish are usually nice. They make some rather taste treats after them. Fish 'n' chips, Swedish fish, fish fingers those are lovely with a bit of custard..."

"Um," the Doctor glanced up, hearing the machine starting to power up, "How's it going down there?"

"Just one more mo…" Angel whispered, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth as she focused...

When a blue light began to fill the machine.

The Doctor let out a breath at that, just the barest tremble of fear in his voice, "Lazarus has switched the machine on."

A/N: OMG! You guys! I was completely blown away by the response to the story! :') I can say that I will definitely be continuing the story ;) So this will be updated every other Saturday with Rewritten posted on the off weekends between ;) It might seem a little hard at times, because it'll take about a month and a half to get through an episode, but I think it might be better than the alternative, not getting a story at all or waiting till Rewritten has finished a series before doing a series of this story (as it would take, for a general series, 44 weeks to get through one series and that's a bit long to make others wait for an update of Rewritten). It's mostly just for this year while I try to catch up to things and get other stories ready to post. I plan to, next year, do this story every Sunday with Rewritten every Saturday, but for now it'll be every other Saturday ;)

I really am so happy that you guys are excited for this story, I can't wait to get to it! And I want to say thank you for your well wishes for my father, we're very happy and relieved he's doing better again too :) I'm SO happy I can get back to posting stories more regularly too :)

There were two main questions that came up in reviews that I want to answer or bring up here though before I actually answer any other notes ;)

1\. Is Harry the Master or Harry Sullivan? - The next chapter is where we'll find out exactly who Harry is so I won't be saying which guesses about his identity are correct just yet ;)

2\. Will the Doctor forget Angel in this AU? - Even though this might count as a spoiler for anyone that's kept away from my tumblr, it's been posted there for a while that I have 2 AUs planned for Angel. THIS AU, however, will NOT be the AU where the Doctor remembers her :( So there is a very big threat of him forgetting Angel as he did in the main series, however I can say she will not be alone during it, she'll have more support, and it'll also depend on where she and the Doctor are in their relationship for how much it'll affect her or even why the Silence might have needed the Doctor to forget her also ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Rose and River...very tricky lol :) I can say that, as Rose developed feelings for the Doctor like in the show, she'll very much not want to like Angel, but Angel's a nice person and she can see that Angel makes the Doctor happy, so she won't be cruel or harsh to her, River though...well, River might still see Angel in a very negative light, though there may be a fair bit more jealousy going on than in the original series}:)

We'll have to wait and see if Angel and the Doctor become pregnant later than in the main series. There may be quite a few things happening that push them together, but we'll have to see what they might be or how the Time Lords feel about it ;)

I can say there won't be any long drawn out triangles here nope :) Even when River starts to play a part in the story, there may be a rather large force of nature keeping her back from the Doctor ;)


	3. The Lazarus Experiment: They're Off

A/N: I'm back! I'm back and I'm very sorry that there was such a big delay in this story. A lot's been going on but I've got more on that **in the ending A/N** so be sure to check it out!

~8~

The Lazarus Experiment: They're Off

"That's not good, is it?" Martha swallowed hard.

"Well," the Doctor winced, though whether it was because of the situation or because Angel had accidently elbowed him in the shin he wasn't sure, "I _was_ hoping it was gonna take him a little bit longer to work that out."

Martha gasped, hearing the small pillars outside the box starting to spin as it powered up more, "I don't want to hurry you, but…"

"Sorry!" Angel murmured, "Sorry, this…I'm better at TARDISes…"

"It's the same sort of thing isn't it?" Martha tried to glance down, recalling the Doctor's words that the wiring was apparently just like a TARDIS, easier than a TARDIS really.

"Not really, this is more complicated…"

"MORE complicated?" the Doctor, unlike Martha, DID manage to look down at her, "How is _human_ technology more complicated than a _TARDIS_?"

"Because it's human," Angel glanced up at him, "I've spent my life around TARDISes, I've only been exploring Earth little more than a year!"

She HAD been there longer, on Earth that is, but she had not had much chance to acquaint herself with Earth tech, not in a way that would help. Oh she'd experienced some of Earth's technology, she had been on Earth for decades really, had crashed where the humans called the Ascension Islands were. She'd had the misfortune to be stuck with a Dalek for a good portion of those years, had been sold like an object at actions too. Thankfully the last auction had been what changed everything, the last auction had set her free, but it had been such a short time compared to the years she'd spent contained and examined.

The Doctor opened his mouth to ask how she had even gotten out of the war, how she'd escaped the Time Lock that he'd set on the planet, but Martha was more focused on what was happening right now, "What're you doin' anyway?"

"Like um…sorry," Angel glanced up at him, "You are?"

"The Doctor," he introduced.

She nodded and turned to Martha, "And you?"

"Martha Jones?" Martha sounded more like she was asking a question than really answering one, not at all sure what this had to do with what the girl was trying to accomplish with the box.

"Right," she smiled, "Nice to meet you, Doctor, Martha Jones," before she focused on Martha once more, "Like the Doctor said, I'm trying to get this box to reflect energy instead of take it in."

"And that's gonna kill him?"

"I hope not," Angel frowned at that, "We have no right to decide if he should die or not, just like he had no right to kill others. Death is…I don't like it," she shook her head and returned her attention to the wires, "Hopefully it'll just reverse the process."

The Doctor seemed uncomfortable with what he was about to say, "When he transforms, he's three times his size, cellular triplication, so he's spreading himself thin."

Angel paused a moment, just one more wire to cross and she would, hopefully, be finished, but his words…she knew what it was, a warning. He was trying to subtly tell her that there WAS a chance that what she was doing was going to kill Lazarus in the end. She swallowed hard, hesitating, not wanting to cross that last wire if it was really going to kill the man. Yes, he had turned into a monster, and yes, he had killed others, but she just…she didn't like death.

The War had been hell, all the fighting and death and destruction. She hadn't liked the idea of death, of something so permanent, of the idea of taking a life like that even before the War happened. Afterwards though, it was just worse. She still had nightmares of seeing the people around her dying, the Daleks destroying everything, the children screaming…

She didn't want to be that, she didn't want to be a murderer.

She bit her lip, taking a deep breath, hoping that what she was doing wasn't going to kill the man outside the box but the monster he'd become, hoping it would really just reverse the process and that they'd gotten to it in time to not affect him too badly.

"Angel, hurry!" Martha's voice cut through her thoughts, the box powering up almost to maximum, "We're gonna end up like him!"

Angel looked up at the Doctor, the man's face grim and sorrowful, full of regret. She shook her head and turned back to the wires, crossing the last one just as the energy built to the end and changed, flying out from the box instead of filling it.

They were silent, listening, only opening the door when a thump sounded from outside the walls, signaling something had happened to Lazarus. The Doctor pushed the door open and cautiously stepped out of the box, Martha after him though Angel remained in the box, sitting there with her knees to her chest, not wanting to go out there, not wanting to see if her actions had caused a death.

"I thought we were gonna go through the blender then," Martha muttered as she and the Doctor stepped further out, looking for Lazarus.

"Is he ok?" Angel called after a moment, when the two outside the box fell silent.

A moment later the Doctor's face appeared in the doorway once more, his face even more grim than before, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Angel swallowed hard at that, tears in her eyes, "He's…"

The Doctor could only nod and hold out a hand to her.

Angel looked at it and then at him for a moment, as though weighing what she should do, before she took a breath and reached out to take his hand, allowing him to help her out of the box. He didn't let go of her hand, even as he led her around the box to view Lazarus, lying on the ground, sans clothing, face down, looking like a young human once more.

"He seems so…human again," Martha stared.

"He was always human," Angel countered lightly, "He just…forgot."

"It's kind of pitiful."

"Eliot saw that, too," the Doctor agreed with a small nod of his head, "'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper.'"

Angel looked around, spotting one of the tablecloths lying on the floor and walked over to it, picking it up and bringing it over to Lazarus, "I'm sorry," she told the man gently, moving to lay the cloth over him, "I really am so sorry."

The Doctor could only watch on, his face sorrowful as he watched the Time Lady showing respect to the man that had tried to kill them, taking care to make sure he was covered as was per human custom.

~8~

Angel stood on the stairs of the lab, her arms crossed, hugging herself as she watched medical services wheeling Lazarus's body out on a stretcher, the man himself hidden in a body bag. She shifted, looking around, seeing not many people were left from the party, there was only a handful of them. She could see some reporters, some press, thankfully all more focused on the ambulance than her. Her escorts were there, waiting across the street for her but making no move to come to her till she went to them, those had been their orders, they were to remain at a distance unless she signaled them over or went to them. As her gaze continued, she could see Martha's family making their way over to them as well.

She couldn't help though that, despite the utter relief on Martha's siblings' faces as they reached Martha and hugged their sister, her attention was pulled more so to Martha's mother…who looked beyond furious.

She actually found herself stepping back a few paces from the glint in the woman's eyes that was directed at the Doctor. Oh she hoped he wouldn't get slapped…

The Doctor, though, didn't seem to notice anything was wrong at all as he just gave Mrs. Jones a wide grin, "Ah, Mrs. Jones, we still haven't finished out chat…"

The sound of the slap the woman doled out across his face made Angel flinch.

"Keep away from my daughter!" Mrs. Jones screeched.

"Mum, what are you doing?" Martha appeared horrified.

"Are you alright, Doctor?" Angel stepped over to him, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder for balance, moving on her toes to place her other hand on his cheek, turning his face to look at the angry red welt that was appearing on his face, "That looks bad…"

"All their mothers, every time," he sighed, his eyes fluttering closed for a brief moment. He knew he had wanted to say something else, reassure her that he was ok, that it wasn't something he hadn't been dealt before, but…her thumb was starting to stroke his cheek in an attempt to cool and soothe it and…well, he quite forgot exactly what he'd wanted to say.

Even Mrs. Jones' angry rants about how he was dangerous and how he caused nothing but death and destruction escaped his notice at the sensation of the light touch on his face, it was starting to make him tingle for some reason.

In fact it wasn't until the sensation stopped that he even realized he'd closed his eyes and might have possibly almost started to lean into the touch, which led to his eyes snapping open to see Angel frowning at him, her hand still on his cheek but not moving.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, knowing that he should have asked that ages ago, there had been so much going on and the way she reacted to Lazarus before was all that he should have needed to know that this whole thing was making her terribly uncomfortable.

"Do humans have a different definition of what a doctor is?" she countered his question with one of her own.

"What?" he blinked, confused.

"A doctor, that's a healer, a wiseman, isn't it?" she tilted her head slightly, "They help people, make them better…why would she think you bring death and destruction when you're a doctor?"

He felt himself start to smile at that, "No, no, I don't think she meant doctors bring that, I think she just meant me, as a person."

"Oh," she nodded slowly, though he could see she still didn't quite understand.

Before he could even open his mouth to try to explain more, a loud crash sounded just a short distance away. He reacted on instinct, turning and rushing towards the noise, not even realizing that he'd grabbed Angel's hand off his face but not let go of it as he tugged her with him. He was only vaguely aware of Martha's family shouting at her not to follow and her telling her sister to stay there as he and Angel reached the ambulance that had been set to take Lazarus away.

It was abandoned, no, not abandoned, partially destroyed. The doors were torn open on the back, the medical service men within dead, dried husks of themselves just as Lady Thaw had been. And Lazarus…he was nowhere to be seen.

"Lazarus, back from the dead," the Doctor muttered, "Should've known, really."

And he _should have_ , something niggled in his mind telling him he should have, he _really_ should have. It was like there was a thought or a recollection, faint though, that was trying to tell him that he'd been warned this would happen, that killing Lazarus would only bring him back from the dead, but he couldn't spend time trying to work out what that could be. Not now, not when Lazarus was on the loose and killing people, likely not even in control of it at the moment which made him infinitely more dangerous.

"Where's he gone?" Martha called as she ran over, just as the Doctor got the sonic out and began to scan for Lazarus's DNA just as before.

Angle glanced over her shoulder at a church across the street, unable to help but think that that was where humans tended to go when they needed somewhere safe to hide, when the Doctor's sonic beeped in the same direction.

"That way," the Doctor pointed at the building, "The church."

"Cathedral," Angel corrected as she squinted, trying to make out the building in the dark, "I think that's Southwark Cathedral," she could just barely read the sign set up before the doors.

"Right then," the Doctor slipped the sonic back into his coat pocket, looking at Martha and Angel before nodding, "Let's go."

The small trio ran across the street and up to the cathedral doors, cautiously opening them and walking down the center aisle, keeping an eye out for Lazarus lest he be hiding in the pews. There really wasn't many places he could be hiding so the Doctor decided to forego the use of the sonic, best to try and sneak up on the man than to have him hear the beeping and whirring of the device.

"Do you think he's in here?" Martha whispered to them as quietly as she could.

"It's the closest safe haven," Angel remarked, looking up at the stained glass windows, "All beings go where they feel safest when they're in danger or scared, don't they?"

"Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?" the Doctor agreed.

"A TARDIS," Angel answered promptly, pausing to look over at the Doctor when the man stopped walking, "What?"

"Um, that was...it's a...it's a rhetorical question," he stated, eyeing her oddly, "Wasn't really expecting an answer," he added.

"Oh," Angel blinked, flushing, "Sorry."

"It was a good answer though. Really. My answer too."

"Fascinating as that is, if we could focus on the resurrected murderer, that'd be a bit better topic at the moment," Martha whispered to them, nudging the Doctor to get him moving again.

They neared the end of the aisle, slowing when they heard a wheezing noise, as though someone were struggling to breathe and moved closer to it, spotting Lazarus sitting, hunched over behind the altar, wrapped in a red shock blanket.

He didn't seem surprised at all to spot them approaching, "I came here before. A lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat there, just a child…the sound of planes and bombs outside."

"The Blitz," the Doctor nodded.

"You've read about it."

"I was there."

"You're too young," Lazarus gave a bitter scoff at that, as though he himself hadn't just succeeded in making himself younger.

"He looks young," Angel agreed, taking just a single step closer to the man than the Doctor or Martha were, "But so do you."

She closed her eyes and winced just as Lazarus's laughter at her words turned into coughs and groans of pain from his transformation on the horizon. Or so that was what the Doctor or Martha would think she was wincing at, truly though it was that ringing in her ears. They had been ringing since the Doctor tried to blow Lazarus up, but she knew it wasn't the typical ringing that one would hear. It literally sounded like bells…church bells now that she thought about it...

Just like the one right above her in the cathedral's tower, which slowly had her eyes drifting up to look at, her back to the Doctor and Martha so they couldn't see where she was gazing, a deep frown settling on her face.

"In the morning," Lazarus spoke, pulling her attention back to him, "The fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again," Angel looked over, seeing the Doctor had moved to walk around Lazarus, standing across from her by the man, Martha taking a leaf from his book and following, but stopping between them, as though boxing the man in with the altar behind him, "So defenseless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it."

The Doctor, with Lazarus's attention not on him, glanced up at the bell tower, a frown of concentration on his face as he seemed to work something out before looking at Lazarus once more, "That's what you were trying to do today."

"That's what I _did_ today."

Angel shook her head at that, "What you did today was mutate and kill people."

"Oh pssh," he sneered, "Those people were nothing. _I_ changed the course of history."

"Any of them might have done, too," the Doctor argued, nearly glaring at Lazarus, "You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that.'

"Why would you even _want_ to?" Angel inquired, slightly missing the Doctor's point, "Being human is…amazing."

"No," Lazarus shook his head, "Avoiding death. _That's_ being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fiber of being. I'm doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more…successful," he barely managed to get the last word out before he convulsed in on himself, groaning as his body twitched, the transformation looming closer.

"Look at yourself!" the Doctor gestured at the fallen man, "You're mutating! You've no control over it! You call that a success?"

"I call it _progress_ ," Lazarus hissed from his hunched position, "I'm more now than I was. More than just an ordinary human."

"Humans, by definition, are already extraordinary," Angel frowned at him, "There's absolutely nothing at all that's just ordinary about you."

She glanced over when she heard Martha whisper to the Doctor, the girl having shuffled closer and closer to the Doctor to be able to speak to him more quietly, Lazarus likely wouldn't hear her, but Time Lords had a bit better hearing than a human, "He's gonna change again at any minute."

"I know," the Doctor agreed, his gaze so fixed on Lazarus that he didn't notice Angel intently watching and listening, "If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work."

"Up there?" Martha looked up the tower above them, making the Doctor nod in agreement.

"You're so sentimental, my dear," Lazarus turned to look at Angel for her words, having regained his breath from his latest attack, "Maybe you are older than you look."

Angel blinked at that, "I DID say that I spent almost 800 years working on boxes, didn't I?" she looked at the Doctor confused, she was fairly certain she had and if she had then that would have been a rather large clue that she WAS much older than she appeared.

"We both are," the Doctor called, drawing Lazarus's attention back to himself, not feeling comfortable with the man focusing on the Time Lady, "I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle. Tired of losing everyone that matters to you. Tired of watching everything turn to dust," he moved to squat down before Lazarus, looking the man in the eye and failing to see Angel's expression morph to one of sorrow at his words, "If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you end up alone."

"That's a price worth paying," Lazarus wheezed.

The Doctor hummed at that, "Is it?"

Lazarus just started to chuckle, "I will feed soon."

The Doctor shook his head, moving to stand, looking down at the hunched over man, "I'm not gonna let that happen."

"You've not been able to stop me so far," Lazarus grinned.

"So give me a go," Angel stepped up, placing her small clutch on the altar beside her and gently nudging Lazarus with her foot, feeling like she needed his attention on her and not Martha for some reason, "You want life force, Professor? You need one for energy, to live? I've got nearly 800 years worth of it so come on, come and get it!"

And with that, she turned and bolted across the cathedral to a door in the side that she could see some steps leading up through.

"Angel!" the Doctor shouted after her as Lazarus snarled and leapt up, darting after her.

"What is she doing!?" Martha gaped.

"I don't know!" the Doctor shook his head, rushing to the middle of the room, trying to listen for the two, "Angel!"

"The tower!" they could only just barely hear Angel's voice from the level above them, "You need him at the tower!"

"Oh my god," Martha breathed as a loud crash sounded and Angel screamed a bit, but they could see her dashing past an archway now two levels above them, "He's changing again!" she looked to the Doctor to see his eyes were equally wide and filled with just as much fear for the woman.

And she knew it had to be infinitely worse for him, because Angel, she was a _Time Lady_ , she might very well be the _last_ Time Lady out there, the last of his kind, and he'd only JUST found her. If anything happened to that girl, if Lazarus got to her…she didn't even want to think about what it would mean for the Doctor.

"Come on," the Doctor turned and hurried away, his face setting in a determined expression as he moved for the large pipe organ.

~8~

"Tower, tower, tower, tower," Angel murmured to herself as she ran as fast as she could, thankful that she'd decided to wear flats to the event instead of heels or boots.

It was odd, she knew that certain other heels would have worked better with her dress, but she'd just had a feeling that flats would be better, had insisted on flats. Now she knew why.

She winced, hearing a crash behind her and a roar as Lazarus fully transformed behind her. He was louder now, gaining on her, she could only hope that she made it to the tower before he caught up to her.

She really wished she had her clutch with her instead of leaving it down below with her mobile tucked firmly inside, this was probably exactly the sort of trouble she was supposed to call for help about…

~8~

"What are we doing?" Martha asked as she followed the Doctor's example the moment he reached the cathedral's pipe organ and sat down on the bench, helping him pull out all the stops she could manage.

But the Doctor didn't seem to have heard her, more mumbling to himself, "Hypersonic sound waves, inspired," before he pulled out the sonic and jammed it into a side slot of the organ, focused on the stops.

~8~

Angel gasped as she reached the top of the bell tower, looking around only a moment before rushing across the circular walkway, holding onto the wooden rail for balance, needing to get as far away from the door as she could as she knew Lazarus would be there all too soon. She bit her lip, looking every which way for some sort of escape…but she was trapped. The only way out was the door she'd entered through, a door that Lazarus would be at in mere moments, or down through the tower below the bells.

This was…not good, not good at all. She was trapped.

Her gaze snapped back to the door way as she heard Lazarus hissing and saw the skeleton creature appear within its archway, "My dear…" he grinned viciously at her.

She tried to step further back, tried to press herself against the wall, feeling more than a little afraid at the moment. And her fears were well founded when Lazarus lashed out, swinging his tail at her, forcing her to jump back away from the wall with a scream.

~8~

The Doctor and Martha looked up at the sound of Angel screaming, "Doctor…" Martha breathed, fearful for the girl that was trying to help them.

The Doctor shook his head, needing to focus, "I hope it's good acoustic in here," he muttered, before slamming his hands down on the keys, motioning for Martha to do the same.

~8~

Angel gasped as she leaned to the side to avoid another slash by Lazarus's tail, nearly toppling over the edge of the tower but managing to keep her balance enough to not fall…yet she stumbled back to the floor of the wooden walkway, leaving her all too vulnerable to Lazarus as he towered over her.

"No," she breathed, scrambling back, trying to put more distance between herself and Lazarus.

But the man was massive and dangerous and his tail was lethal…and he seemed to know that he was at the advantage at the moment and was taking his leisure to torment her, playing with his food it appeared.

She backed up as much as she could till her back hit the wall and she had nowhere else to go. Her hearts were racing in her chest as she looked up at Lazarus. She swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut tight, knowing he was going to try and finish her off.

She felt…regret and fear, but not fear of Lazarus's attack, more fear of what would happen after. There were two people out there waiting for her, two people that would be affected if she were to die here and now, one that would be angry if she regenerated, and another that would be relieved if she just managed to not die permanently. She would regret hurting them, putting them through this but also…

There was the Doctor too.

He truly thought he was the last one left, till he'd found her, he'd had his hope restored when he realized what she was. He had hope now, and that was a wonderful thing. If anything happened to her, if Lazarus managed to suck the entire life out of her, all her past lives and lives to come…the Doctor would believe he was alone now, he wouldn't know that he wasn't because she hadn't had a chance to tell him…not that she was really allowed to, it was supposed to be a secret.

But still…to have that hope and then have it taken away…that would be enough to make anyone dangerous, and she had no idea what it would do to a man like the Doctor.

And she was helpless to do anything to stop it, she was likely to die there, she could feel it now, a Time Lady on Earth, an angel in a church…

Fitting.

~8~

The Doctor nearly slammed his hands on the keys in frustration as the music and the volume wasn't doing anything at all to stop Lazarus.

"It isn't working…" Martha whispered, looking up at the tower in fear.

"Yes, I KNOW it isn't working!" he snapped, knowing he should feel badly for raising his voice to Martha when she was just trying to help, but the last of his species was trapped up there, luring a monster up to a key point in HIS plan and his plan wasn't even working! The very last person from his planet left alive might die on HIS watch and it would be all HIS fault!

And he couldn't bear that.

He couldn't survive having a Time Lord back and then losing them again, being alone after having hope like that…not again. He couldn't lose again.

"Doctor, what do you need me to do?" Martha asked him, her voice calm and level, knowing he didn't mean to yell, she could see how tense he was about this, how fearful and worried, and it was the heat of the moment. Being the calm one right now was imperative, "What do we need to do to make it work?"

The Doctor closed his eyes a moment, before shaking his head as the realization hit him and he reached out to grab the sonic out of the slot, "We need to turn this up to 11!" he quickly flicked it to the setting and jammed it back into the slot, the two of them pressing the keys once more, the music so loud it made THEM wince…

~8~

Angel let out a small cry of pain as the noise of the music echoed up to the tower, increasing in volume as it went from the setup of the tower. She could almost feel the soundwaves striking up at them leaving her ears ringing just as they had been after the Doctor tried to blow Lazarus up.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard Lazarus roar in pain himself even above the noise around her, the creature staggering back, trying to hold his hands over his ears. She gasped as he lost his footing and fell backwards down the tower's edge.

She closed her eyes tightly, almost thankful for the noise now, the last thing she wanted to hear was the sound of Lazarus hitting the ground below.

~8~

The Doctor stopped suddenly when a loud thump sounded behind him and Martha. They looked over to see it was Lazarus, now in his human form. He leapt up and turned around, rushing closer to Lazarus but looking up the tower, "Angel?!"

"I'm alright," came her distant voice, "Ears are ringing is all…"

The Doctor let out a breath of relief at that.

"Be down in a mo!" she added, making the Doctor nod at that even though she couldn't see it.

"Is he really dead this time?" Martha inquired quietly beside him, pulling his attention away from the tower and back to Lazarus's body which was now starting to morph into that of an old man once more.

The Doctor stepped closer, using the sonic to scan Lazarus, before he nodded, "He is," he agreed, reaching out to close the man's eyes.

Martha let out a breath at that, looking around, shifting as she now started to feel uncomfortable with the dead body lying right before her, "I didn't know you could play?"

The Doctor, who had gotten up to pull a cloth off the altar and place over Lazarus just as Angel had done earlier, glanced at her, "Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up."

"Hmm, especially about playing loud."

"Sorry?" he leaned in, touching his ear, faking hearing loss at the joke about Beethoven which earned him a small laugh from Martha.

"What are you laughing about?" Angel's voice cut into their laughter as she made it down the stairs to them, sounding more curious than chastising.

The Doctor fell silent as he looked over at Angel watching them with wide green eyes before he made his way over to her and stood before her. He said nothing for a long while before he just reached out and touched a lock of her blonde hair, curling it around his finger with the gentlest of tugs.

"You're real," he whispered, almost as though he'd convinced himself that her being there was just the result of his imagination, that the years of loneliness had finally caught up to him and he'd truly gone mad and imagined another Time Lord alive.

"And you're…" she frowned, thinking of the word as she reached out to touch his bowtie, "Different."

He blinked at that, "Different how?" he really wasn't sure what she meant at all.

She just smiled, "Bowtie," she patted the one he was wearing into place again, "Bowties are cool," she shrugged, "Not many people can pull off wearing one. You do it well."

The Doctor grinned at that, laughing a little, "I don't normally wear one though."

She frowned slightly, "You don't?" he shook his head, "Then what do you usually wear?"

He looked at her intently, before holding out his hand to her, "Come with me?" he asked her, offering his hand, "Travel with me…and find out."

Angel could only look between his hand and him, not sure what she should say…

~8~

The Doctor stood, fidgeting, before the TARDIS doors, the box still resting in Martha's flat, Martha herself standing before him, Angel nowhere to be seen. Well, she wouldn't be visible as she was in the TARDIS at the moment. He couldn't help but glance at the doors to his box at that thought. He'd asked her to travel with him, but…she hadn't agreed to.

Well, she hadn't NOT agreed to either.

Not yet at least.

He was trying to give her some time to decide without him standing there pressuring her to say yes, he didn't want to force her to stay in the TARDIS if she didn't want to, just…just knowing that another Time Lord was alive would be enough for him, but still…he didn't…he didn't want to leave her, not now. SO much could happen on Earth, too much had already happened on the planet, that would put her in danger and even though he knew that his life wasn't exactly safe, he still would feel better knowing that HE was there to help protect the last of his kind. It would be a reassurance to be able to see her every day, to know that he really wasn't alone. He never would have guessed that the Face of Boe would be correct, he'd given up all hope that there were other Time Lords out there…and yet here he was with another Time Lady alive and only feet away.

Oh he really hoped she would say yes, he just…he didn't want to be alone.

And, speaking of, if she _did_ say no…well…

And Martha…she _did_ deserve to come along after all this, especially after he'd put her family in danger, didn't she?

"Something else that just kind of escalated, then," he took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on Martha.

"I can see a pattern developing," Martha agreed, though the smile she gave him was fairly forced, "You should take more care in the future. And the past, and whatever other time period you find yourself in."

"It's good fun, though, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So, what d'you say, one more trip?"

Martha's forced smile soon faded to a true frown, "No. Sorry."

"What do you mean?" he was soon mirroring her frown, "I thought you liked it."

"I do," she agreed, nodding firmly but that soon blended into a shake of her head, "But I can't go on like this. 'One more trip.' It's not fair."

He blinked at that, "What're you talking about?"

HAD he been doing that? He thought back on the last few adventures and realized…he really had. He'd told her one trip, just one, but then he'd tried to stretch it more into two trips, and he swore that would be it, but then he stretched it into three trips, all with some sort of reason for why, all with a logical explanation for why she should get to see what she had. He really hadn't realized he'd phrased it as he had and that he'd gone back on that phrase so often.

Well, now he really DID owe it to Martha to stick around more, it wasn't fair to string her along like that, always wondering if the next trip would be the last trip because the next one should, by the logic he'd put in place, be just another excuse to keep going. And really, that's what it was, an excuse to keep going, an excuse to keep Martha around. He hadn't wanted to call her a companion, a part of his mind and hearts wanting to reserve that for Rose, not wanting to replace her or fill her spot so quickly. If he didn't call Martha a companion or treat her like one then she wasn't one…but she already _was_ one wasn't she? HE wanted her to stick around, he wanted her to be his next companion, and he hadn't even realized.

Rose hadn't been the first companion of his, logically he knew she wouldn't be the last and trying to force that sentiment that she would be the final one he'd take was ridiculous. Martha wanted to come, HE wanted her to come, Angel would hopefully travel with him and want Martha to come so…why not? Why not just let Martha come, let her be the companion she already was, just more officially.

"I don't want to be just a passenger anymore," Martha continued to explain, "Someone you take along for a treat. If that's how you still see me, well, I'd rather stay here."

"Ok, then. If that's what you want."

"Right," he couldn't understand why Martha's frown had gotten so deep at that, "But we've already said goodbye once today so it's really best if you just go," she turned around and stalked away from the TARDIS, standing across the room as though waiting for him to do as she'd said and leave, but he couldn't help but stand there and just smile, waiting till the penny dropped. Not even a moment later Martha was looking over her shoulder at him, "What is it?"

"What?" he shrugged, "I said ok."

"Sorry?"

"Ok," he gave a proper nod at the TARDIS, his face blooming into a wider smile as Martha's eyes widened, understanding what he was trying to get at.

"Oh, thank you!" she nearly jumped at him, pulling him into a tight hug, "Thank you!"

"Well," he gave a little chuckle, "You were never really just a passenger, were you?"

Martha just beamed at him and turned to head into the box with him, ignoring her phone as it rang behind them, letting the answer phone pick up as she had before.

"Hi, I'm out! Leave a message!"

"Martha!" Mrs. Jones gasped, "It's your mother. Please, phone me back. I'm begging you. I know who this Doctor really is. I know he's dangerous. You're gonna get yourself killed. Please, trust me. This information comes from Harold Saxon himself. You're not safe!"

~8~

Angel never thought she'd see another TARDIS in her lifetime, especially not after the War, especially not after what the High Council had done to nearly all the TARDISes on the planet, turned them into War TARDISes. To find one so unaffected had truly been a treasure and now, to be standing inside one once more…it was just…amazing.

The Doctor had offered her a chance to go with him, travel with him, all of space and time to see. She hadn't agreed or declined just yet though, had only asked if he even had a TARDIS and that was how she had ended up there where she was now, standing before the console of the TARDIS, her hand resting on the rotor as she looked up at it, the box humming gently but excitedly around her.

"Hello to you too, girl," she murmured, feeling a welcoming sense from the glow of the rotor and the tone of the hum around her. It was almost like the TARDIS was welcoming her back. She'd worked on so many in the past, this one was one of many, and it touched her that the box seemed to recognize and remember her.

Speaking of boxes, she glanced over at the door where she knew the pilot of said box was standing. The Doctor was just outside with Martha, either saying goodbye or asking the girl to stay on as well, she hoped it was the latter. She'd wanted to give them more privacy for that discussion. If she was there, in sight, it might make the Doctor more aware that, if she said yes, he wouldn't be as alone and…she rather thought Martha would make a lovely companion for him. She was…good, really good, though she got the feeling that neither Martha nor the Doctor could quite see it in the human just yet. It was a tempting notion, to stay on just for that, but…she had a life here, on Earth, she had…she had a family of sorts.

Could she really just...leave them?

Well, there was only one way to find out, wasn't there?

She sighed, pulling her hand away from the rotor and reaching into her small clutch that she'd taken from the cathedral earlier. She hadn't stopped to change, hadn't even gotten to do much save contact her escorts to let them know they could leave and went with the Doctor and Martha. She'd just wanted to see the TARDIS, to see which one it was, if it was one she'd worked on or an older model that her family had merely raised and harvested before her time. Her family had been TARDIS farmers, TARDISes were her life and she just…she just wanted to see one once more, to know it was being well cared for and, granted there was still quite a lot of work and more than a few faults in this TARDIS due to negligence and lack of knowledgeable care, it was still well loved and holding on.

She'd truly planned just to see the TARDIS and leave but…well…there WAS something missing in her life that couldn't be found on Earth. The TARDIS. A TARDIS. She'd spent her entire life around them, literally, she had been born in one, and going the years she had without being around one had left her feeling…hollow, empty, useless even. She wasn't very clever and she wasn't very pretty or skilled in much, but she was _good_ at repairing TARDISes. It had occupied so much of her time, day in and day out, that not doing something related to them left her anxious and fidgety.

And now she was right there, in a TARDIS again, and it knew her, it wanted her to stay, she could feel that.

It was all a matter of if she _should_.

She took her mobile out of her clutch and called the first number on it, lifting it to her ear to wait for the answer.

"Everything alright?" came Harry's voice.

She had to smile at that, "Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"We were...concerned...when the escorts arrived without you."

She winced at that, "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I…the man, the one from my dreams, he's called the Doctor and…he has _a TARDIS_."

"Ooh," he teased, "I see. Leaving us for a man with a box, are you?"

She fell silent at that, something he picked up on quickly.

"Angel, what is it?"

She bit her lip, chewing it a moment before taking a breath, "He asked me to go with him," she told him, "The Doctor, he…he asked me to travel with him."

There was silence a moment, "...do you want to?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "I wasn't much a traveler, I didn't care for exploring and I…I'd miss you, I'd miss you and Lucy and I don't…"

"Angel," he chuckled lightly, though there was a slight pain in it, as though he didn't want to say what he was about to, "We'll be fine," he reassured her, "Don't let Lucy or I influence you. Think about what YOU want to do. It's time you did, actually, I know you've worried for Lucy and I more than most…"

"I…I miss the TARDISes," she said in a whisper, "They were such a big part of my life and…"

"And it's not something Lucy or I can give you, we…we know," he sighed, "Angel, if you want to travel. Travel. If you want to stay in the TARDIS for a while, then stay. Lucy and I will still be here when you return and, with a TARDIS you could return 5 minutes ago."

She laughed a bit at that, "I'm not sure the Doctor's piloting is that good."

"But yours is," he countered, "Pop in from time to time, for Lucy, and we'll be ok."

She felt herself frown just slightly, "Just for Lucy?"

"...no."

She smiled at that, "I'll miss you Harry, the both of you, an awful lot."

"We'll miss you too."

She bit her lip again, "You…you really think I should go?"

"I think…" he sighed, "I think this could be the start of the greatest adventure of your life."

"You 'feel' that?" she teased.

He laughed, "You tell me."

"I'm not sure yet," she told him, "But…I think I'd like to find out."

"Then we'll see you later," she could almost hear the nod in his voice.

"I'll be back in time for the election," she promised, crossing her hearts though he couldn't see, "I promise."

"I know you will," he laughed, "Until then…be safe, Angel."

"You too, Harry," she smiled, before lowering the mobile and ending the call. She could never bring herself to say 'goodbye' at the end of a conversation with him, it just felt…odd.

As she put the mobile back into her clutch, as the TARDIS began to hum loudly in excitement, she felt her smile grow wider, felt a laugh bubble out of her at the thought of being there in the TARDIS and _staying_. She let out a giddy little laugh, clapping her hands together and jumping slightly in place before she spun around, hearing the doors open as the Doctor AND Martha entered once more.

"Well?" the Doctor looked at her, his expression a cross between anxious, hopeful, and fearful at what her answer would be.

Angel couldn't even bring herself to speak, only nod her head.

The wide grin that the Doctor gave, the small cheer of triumph, and the way he bounded over to her and pulled her into a hug that he spun her around in had even Martha smiling in joy.

Angel's smile only faded slightly when the Doctor had set her down and begun running around the console to send them off into the Vortex. The finality of her decision hitting her that she was _leaving_ , right now she was leaving Harry and Lucy and she wouldn't see them for who knew how long. To them it could be mere hours but for her it could be as long as years, decades, centuries even! Well, it probably wouldn't take _that_ long, she wouldn't want to not see them both for that long. No, she had to focus not on what she was leaving, what she might be missing, but what she'll be seeing, what she might be gaining.

Harry had said that this could be the start of the greatest adventure of her life...she could only hope that her brother was right.

A/N: BROTHER!? O.O Oh Angel, only you could see 'Harry' as your brother. I think you all know which Harry it is now what with a Lucy being around him and an important election coming up ;) So I bet you can guess Angel has a new last name now that she associates herself as having a brother, she's not a Jones this time }:) I put a minor hint in this chapter about how Angel wasn't in Van Statten's, but we'll get a clearer story about it in later chapters ;)

For this chapter, I can say that Angel has been on Earth almost the entire time that 'Harry' has been and they have formed something of a relationship, clear what sort based on how Angel views him, I think ;) In the original story, even as Angel was dying on the Valiant, even with the Master just visiting her cell a few times, she _still_ managed to get under his skin and get him to somewhat care about her even just the tiniest bit if she could make him feel guilty but also find a way to startle him in caring about him too.

Now imagine what the Master would be like LIVING with Angel, non stop, 24/7 for a year and a half? Imagine what care he'd have for her then, with her healthy and innocent and being able to spend time with him and come to rely on him and see him as a brother despite knowing what he'd done in the past. That will have a serious impact on his mentality and cause a lot of issues for him in the future when he does things that get a poor reaction from Angel ;)

I think, if anyone could choose to see the Master as family without blood-ties between them, it would be Angel. She was able to love and become the Mate of the Doctor, despite thinking he'd destroyed their entire planet at the time and murdered every single Time Lord, including the children, knowing he was the Oncoming Storm, and knowing he had a darkness and pain and anger in him. If she could do that for the Doctor...I think it's realistic she could find a way to care for and love (as a brother) the Master too ;)

As for the rest of it, all my other stories, there's just a few little announcements I wanted to make. First is that I'm very sorry it took so long to get this story going again, a lot happened since the last chapter. My dad beat cancer, my sister moved out, my brother got engaged and is still engaged (to a harpy that hates our entire family, so we're not handling the engagement very well), I got a job, quit a job, got a different job at a Barnes and Nobles, started a side business making candles, got a tutoring spot, got another part-time job, had a few health scares in the family, but we've pulled through all of it and now I am back :)

So it mostly boils down to:

1\. I'm going to try and keep this story being updated every other week for the time being. Most of my other main-stories will be updated when I can get time to edit them, but I'm going to try and at least keep with this and Proffy's AU and Merlin's sequel (and the spin-offs) on their set days.

2\. If anyone is interested, my candle business is up on Etsy, for soy candles (in various scents) and even some custom paraffin ones (like the TARDIS, the Death Star, the black cubes inspired by The Power of Three). It's AnitaCandle on Etsy ;)

3\. _**I'VE PUBLISHED A BOOK!** _ :D It's an e-book so far, available on Amazon (they offer a free Kindle App so you don't have to buy a kindle to read their e-books). It is 'Patrapolis' by Elixabeth Xavier (my penname, which is derived from LizzeXX), and it is $3.99 ;) There is a URL for it on my profile ;)

I think that's the news that either relates to this story or that I haven't shared since the last update lol :) I'm very excited to be resuming this story :)

Some notes on reviews...

Oh River, I have some interesting plans for her and Angel }:)

Angel's abilities will still take some time to develop, yup, but she's a little better off than she might have been. Let's just say the Doctor isn't the only one who worked out she was a precog and she's gotten some surprising help/support in regards to it. But it would be hard to hone that skill on a planet as static as Earth (barring the occasional alien invasion), she'll have much more time and chance to practice and build her senses and power while travelling to dangerous planets and having adventures ;)

It'll definitely be interesting seeing Angel and her slight obliviousness dealing with the Doctor and Martha lol :) As for when the Mating might begin, let's just say neither of them expected the Mating to start as early as it does in this story...or in the way it does }:) Oh even if the Doctor doesn't stick up for Angel when River comes around, she's going to a very big supporter on her side helping her out that she didn't have before ;)

There'll definitely be an AU coming where no one forgets ;) I have 2 AUs planned for Angel, but this one is, unfortunately, the one where the Doctor still forgets :( The one where he remembers though...oh boy, I go into a sugar/fluff coma just thinking about how 11 acts around Angel as his Mate ;)

It makes sense, no worries ;) I think my use of exposition comes from my narration use. I've been aware for some time that I switch perspective and narrative voice without any scene or chapter breaks which I like to think is a little unique take on the omniscient third person and something that is a little stylistic mark of my writing. It's actually been something that a few people were able to use to realize plagiarism was happening in other stories, the feel of my writing seeming too familiar in someone else's work and making them realize something was wrong. So it's helpful in one way lol. I think from how I write that sort of narration comes a need I feel to describe what others are thinking or feeling during a moment or scene, switching from what Angel might think during a sweet moment to what the Doctor is thinking/feeling during that exact same moment. So it ends up with the exposition being longer than normal and more inclusive and more telling/not showing. I agree. It's something I'm trying to keep in mind as I go on, I think I just get too sucked into what the characters are thinking and what they want to express. Sometimes there can be no showing scenes because of a situation and all that's left is the telling scenes of inner thought/monologue. But I'm working on it, thanks! :)

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while :( Life got immensely crazy, but I've made some changes in how I'm updating other stories that should help me keep these stories going more regularly :)

True, you usually need a key to get into the TARDIS, but... it's not always true ;) Donna managed to get in without a Key. I like to think that River forked over the key to the TARDIS to Kovarian to plant the Silence in the first place. Clara knew the Doctor hid keys in the TARDIS, River's had chances to explore the TARDIS without anyone really watching her so she could have stolen one. Or, Amy and Rory likely both had keys that she could have stolen off of them at any point and they might not notice because they still had one key and didn't think anything of it ;) There are a few ways to break into a TARDIS, I think even Sarah Jane managed to get onboard without a key once ;)

Oh Rose :) I think she'll definitely not be able to be as mad/cross with Angel as she was with the Professor or the Linking with Evy ;) Angel seems the sort to want to know about Rose and other past companions and to be very, very excited to meet any of them. That might put Rose more at ease, to know the Doctor DID talk about her after she left (unlike with Sarah Jane and Rose's meeting). Turn Left is something I am VERY much looking forward to. Because events in this story that led to Angel not being with Van Statten won't happen if the Doctor dies with the Racnoss, which means she WOULD be with Van Statten when 9 is there with Rose and ooh, I'm just really excited. It might give a sort of AU of an AU feel, sort of like if the Angel of the main series became the AU/Turn Left version in this story. But Rose is from THIS story and hasn't met the Angel of the AU/Turn Left world and that Angel hadn't completed the Mating yet and…that probably sounds very confusing lol. All I can say is I'm dying to get to that episode! Danny and Clara's reaction to his death is something I'm looking forward to exploring in many different stories ;) Especially Angel's }:)

I'm not sure if I'd do a Bruce Wayne/OC just yet. I'm not much a fan of Batman, the movies just don't really pull me in :/ But there's always a chance that I'll rewatch them one day and be hit with an OC ;)

I can say Angel knows Harry is the Master, and she knows a lot of what he's done in the past too, which will make for an interesting confrontation when the Doctor works it out ;) I'm very eager to explore how different, if any, the Master might be after having been around Angel for a year and a half and her having even a slight influence on him like she did on the Valiant ;) We'll have to wait and see ;)


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